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A miner on strike stands in front of a burning barricade on the A-66 motorway, on the first day of a strike to protest the government's spending cuts in the mining sector, in Pola de Lena, near Oviedo, northern Spain, May 23, 2012. Spain's economy is contracting for the second time since late 2009 and four years of stagnation and recession have pushed unemployment above 24 percent, the highest rate in the European Union. REUTERS/Eloy Alonso

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All Turk troops have left N.Iraq: Iraq formin

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Turkish soldiers patrol along a road in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak, bordering Iraq, February 28, 2008. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas

Turkish soldiers patrol along a road in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak, bordering Iraq, February 28, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Fatih Saribas

BAGHDAD | Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:18am EST

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - All Turkish troops involved in an offensive against Kurdish rebels inside northern Iraq have withdrawn back into Turkey, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters on Friday.

"All the Turkish troops have withdrawn and gone back to the Turkish side of the international border. We welcome this, we think this is the right thing for Turkey to do," Zebari said, adding that the withdrawal took place before dawn on Friday.

A senior Turkish military source said some troops had returned to bases in Turkey after completing their mission against Kurdish PKK rebels, but that no full withdrawal had begun.

A U.S. official in Baghdad also said some troops had left, but that it was too early to call it a withdrawal.

Zebari, who is a Kurd, said Iraq was willing to work with Turkey to resolve the crisis over the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in mountainous parts of Iraq's largely autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Turkey sent thousands of troops into the remote region on February 21 to crush PKK rebels who use the area as a base for attacks on Turkish territory.
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