Turkish jets bomb Kurd rebel targets

Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets along the Iraqi border yesterday as government and military leaders weighed their next move against rebel bases in northern Iraq.
Fighter jets bombed and destroyed several Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) mountain positions in Sirnak, Hakkari, Siirt and Van provinces bordering Iraq and Iran, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Helicopter gunships also joined the raids that followed the killing of 12 soldiers in a PKK ambush near the Iraqi border on Sunday. The PKK said it captured eight soldiers in the clashes.
Another operation against the PKK is under way in the eastern province of Tunceli, Anatolia said, adding that suspected PKK militants detonated two remote-control bombs as soldiers combed the countryside for landmines.
The military said 34 PKK militants were killed in operations that followed Sunday's attack, which increased pressure on Ankara for a military incursion into northern Iraq, where the rebels take refuge.
The National Security Council met amid new international appeals for restraint and signs that Baghdad might hand some rebels over to prevent a Turkish military strike.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan in Baghdad on Tuesday that he "did not exclude the possibility" of extraditing PKK militants, a Turkish government source said.
Babacan said Iraq should hand over about 100 PKK members whose names are on a list sent to Baghdad earlier this year, the source said, adding that the matter would be discussed during talks here Thursday with a visiting Iraqi delegation.
President Abdullah Gul chaired the National Security Council meeting of top officers and senior ministers to discuss options for tackling the PKK, which has been fighting for self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984.
Ankara says it will not flinch from military action if Iraq and the United States fail to clamp down on PKK bases in northern Iraq.
Officials also raised the possibility of economic sanctions against Iraq.
"We are the country with which Iraq has the largest trade. But this has now become meaningless," Foreign Trade Minister Kursat Tuzmen said. "We are keeping all our options open."