Ankara - Turkish troops and their Iraqi Kurdish allies have killed 415 separatist Turkish Kurds in 10 days of fighting following an army incursion into neighbouring northern Iraq, a military official said yesterday.
In a related development, Syria and Iran are deploying additional armoured forces near their borders with Turkey and Iraq amid Ankara's ongoing military incursion into northern Iraq, a Turkish intelligence source told Anatolia news agency. Between 10,000 and 20,000 Turkish troops, backed by around 100 tanks, have poured into northern Iraq since September 23rd to fight the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Inside Turkey, the PKK rebels attacked a gendarmerie post near the Iranian border, killing five soldiers and injuring eight others. Two rebels were also killed in an ensuing clash.