clipped from: www.bigpond.com   

Turkish military planes have scoured the Iraqi border for Kurdish rebel camps, after diplomatic talks in Ankara to avert a major cross-border operation into northern Iraq failed.

Turkish soldiers patrol in an armoured vehicle on a road in the south-eastern Turkish province of Sirnak (File photo).
Turkish soldiers patrol in an armoured vehicle on a road in the south-eastern Turkish province of Sirnak
Turkish-Iraqi talks collapsed
after the Turkish Government rejected a series of proposals by Iraqi Defence Minister General Abdel Qader Jassim to tackle Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq as insufficient

Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by fighter jets, helicopter gunships, tanks, and mortars, on the frontier.

It has warned of a possible offensive against about 3,000 PKK rebels using Iraq as a base from which to carry out deadly attacks in Turkey.


Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has taken a swipe at western countries for not helping Turkey fight the PKK, criticising what he called an approach of "your terrorist is good, my terrorist is bad".