Turkey Will Attack PKK in Iraq `Soon,' Lawmaker Says

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will attack bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq ``soon,'' according to a senior lawmaker of his ruling Justice and Development Party.

Turkey is gathering intelligence on the whereabouts of PKK positions in northern Iraq before starting the operation, Erdogan told party officials in Ankara late yesterday after talks with Ergin Saygun, deputy head of the Turkish military, according to a lawmaker who attended the meeting and requested anonymity.

The Turkish government is threatening to send soldiers over the border after attacks by the PKK during the past six weeks killed almost 50 people in southeastern Turkey. The U.S. has cautioned Turkey against a full-scale military incursion into the Kurdish-controlled region, a relatively calm area of Iraq.

Four Turkish soldiers were killed in fighting with the PKK near the border early today, the army said on its Web site. Turkish jets bombed villages in northern Iraq early today, causing no casualties, Agence France-Presse reported. More...