ANKARA Turkey has shrugged off pleas from Baghdad and its own NATO allies to cut short its anti-guerrilla campaign in northern Iraq, ferrying in fresh men, food and supplies.
Thirty civilian lorries, manned by soldiers, crossed into Iraq on Tuesday, and army helicopters air-lifted equipment deep into the remote region in support of the seven-day-old attack against bases of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels. The attack started on May 14th with more than 10,000 troops, backed by tanks, artillery and air power.
The state-run Anatolian news agency, citing military sources, said more than 1,300 PKK fighters had been killed so far, with another 200 captured. A much larger Turkish incursion into Iraq in 1995 failed in its stated goal of finishing off the PKK, which has waged an insurgency since 1984 in support of self-rule in southeastern Turkey.