Turkish soldier patrols Iraq border - Sky News
The Turkish military has said 32 Kurdish rebels have been killed in a counter-offensive launched after earlier clashes left 12 Turkish soldiers dead.
The tit-for-tat attacks began when separatists blew up a Turkish military convoy close to the border with Iraq.
Turkish forces then mounted a an attack in retaliation, in which 63 suspected rebel targets were shelled.
In another incident, a landmine killed one civilian and wounded at least 13 more in a minibus travelling near to where the soldiers were killed.
Tension in the area has increased since the Turkish parliament authorised troops to hunt down rebels hiding in northern Iraq.
Turkey has deployed as many as 100,000 troops along the border to try to stop the rebels crossing from Iraqi bases to stage attacks inside Turkey.
Iraq has repeatedly called for Turkey to avoid military action.
It wants further talks to try to resolve the problem of Kurdish separatists based in northern Iraq.
The US, Turkey's main NATO ally, fears an offensive could destabilise the most peaceful part of Iraq and possibly the wider region as well.
But the leader of Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region said it had the right to defend itself if Turkish forces launched an incursion.
Printable version
Email it to a friend