CIZRE, Turkey—Turkish troops intensified their offensive against Kurdish PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq on Saturday, two days after crossing the mountainous border in a campaign Turkey's allies hope will be short and limited.
Backed up by warplanes and combat helicopters, troops killed 35 rebels in the remote mountainous area on Saturday, the Turkish General Staff said, taking the total PKK death toll since a major offensive began on Thursday to 79.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been battling for decades to create a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey, threatened reprisal attacks on Turkish soil.
Ankara says it was forced to launch a cross-border offensive after Iraqi authorities failed to stop an estimated 3,000 PKK members from using northern Iraq as a base to stage attacks inside Turkish territory.
A PKK spokesman told Reuters the guerrillas had recovered the bodies of 15 of the 22 Turkish soldiers they say they have killed since Turkey launched the offensive. He declined to say if any rebels had been killed.
in Northern Iraq at 79
ANKARA,—Turkey's military General Staff said on Saturday the number of Kurdish PKK rebels killed during its military offensive in northern Iraq had risen to 79.
In a statement posted on its Web site, the General Staff said two more of its soldiers had also been killed in clashes on Saturday, taking the death toll to seven since Turkish troops launched their cross-border offensive on Thursday evening.
"The offensive will continue to be waged with determination," it said.
In its statement, the General Staff confirmed the deaths of just seven of its soldiers, two of them on Saturday.
It is virtually impossible to verify the claims of either side because the fighting is taking place in largely inaccessible terrain in tough winter conditions.
The General Staff released new pictures of the operation, including helicopters hovering over snowy peaks and soldiers in their white camouflage uniforms striding through the snow.
The United States and the European Union fear a prolonged military campaign inside Iraq would raise the risk of serious clashes between Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish forces and also undermine the fragile U.S.-backed government in Baghdad.
Iraq's foreign minister said Baghdad did not approve of Turkey's incursion and said it should end as soon as possible.
"This is a limited military incursion into a remote, isolated and uninhabited region. But if it goes on, I think it could destabilise the region because really one mistake could lead to further escalation," Hoshiyar Zebari told the BBC.
The leadership of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq vowed strong opposition if civilians are attacked.
"Any attack on any citizen in Kurdistan or populated areas will be answered with massive resistance ... and all preparations have been made in this matter," a statement from the presidency of the Kurdish Regional Government said.
Killed in Northern Iraq
SULAIMANIYA, Iraq—Kurdish rebels have killed 22 Turkish soldiers in clashes in northern Iraq, a spokesman for the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said on Saturday.
Turkey's General Staff said on Friday it had lost five soldiers and killed at least 44 rebels in clashes since the start of its cross-border offensive against the PKK.
A Turkish security source could not confirm the report of further deaths on Saturday but said troops had killed a further 11 rebels, bringing the total PKK death toll according to Ankara's estimates to at least 55.
Verifying information from either side is difficult as the fighting is taking place in an inaccessible mountainous region.
Both the Turkish security sources and the pro-rebel Roj TV said that fighting on Saturday was intense in the mountainous Zap district of northern Iraq near the border.
"The fighting is intense right now, the area of operations is widening," PKK member Ozgur Gabar told Denmark-based Roj TV, adding that the rebels had collected the corpses of 15 soldiers.
But Ahmed Danees, head of foreign relations for the PKK, told Reuters by satellite phone that there had been no fresh clashes on Saturday, though Turkish warplanes and helicopters had attacked targets along the border.
"After clashes yesterday between the PKK and the Turkish forces, 22 Turkish soldiers were killed. Not more than five PKK soldiers were wounded," he said.
"Turkish forces used helicopters to evacuate the wounded," he said, speaking from an undisclosed location.
Hoshand Bawani, spokesman for Iraq's northern Dahuk province, which borders southern Turkey, said Turkish artillery had pounded targets in the Amadiya district over a two-hour period on Saturday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan reiterated on Saturday that the sole target of the northern Iraq offensive was the PKK.
Washington is sharing intelligence with NATO ally Turkey on PKK movements in Iraq. It has urged Ankara to limit the campaign to precise rebel targets and to bring it to a swift conclusion.
Conflicting Reports
There have been conflicting reports about the scale of Turkey's military operation, possibly the largest in decades.
The General Staff has not said how many troops are involved, but it said on Saturday fighting was raging in four different areas of northern Iraq, suggesting a large-scale operation.
A senior Turkish military source told Reuters two brigades made up of around 8,000 troops were taking part. Turkish media have put the number of troops at 10,000, but a senior officer with U.S.-led forces in Baghdad said the number was under 1,000.
"Our troops are fighting heroically in difficult weather conditions and difficult terrain. The operation will end once our targets have been reached," the General Staff said.
Turkey's government and military have come under heavy domestic pressure to crush the PKK after a series of deadly attacks on their troops late last year. Turkey says it has the right under international law to hit the PKK in Iraq.
Ankara has codenamed its offensive "Gunes", or Sun, after a three-year-old girl whose father was killed by the PKK, Turkish newspapers reported on Saturday.
Turkey's military has been bombing PKK positions in northern Iraq since securing parliament's authorisation to carry out cross-border operations in October.
Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since the group began its armed struggle in 1984 for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey. Washington and the EU, like Turkey, brand the PKK as terrorists and international reaction to the latest offensive has been muted.
"The Turkish army is using all its weapons including fighter jets, helicopters and artillery," Ahmed Danees, head of foreign relations for the PKK, told Reuters by telephone.
"We are using guerrilla warfare. We are laying mines and planning ambushes on the Turkish side of the border."
Turkey launched several major land offensives in the 1990s into northern Iraq against the separatist movement and has since kept small contingents of troops at bases there.
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