EU: Turkey must avoid disproportionate Iraq action

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Friday repeated a call on Turkey to refrain from any disproportionate military action in northern Iraq.

Responding to an announcement by Turkey's military that it had launched a cross-border land offensive backed by fighter jets into northern Iraq on Thursday evening to hunt down Kurdish PKK guerrillas, a spokeswoman for the European Commission said:

"The European Union understands Turkey's need to protect its population from terrorism and it also says that Turkey should refrain from taking any disproportionate military action and respect human rights and the rule of law.

"We encourage Turkey to continue to pursue dialogue with international partners on this matter."

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom)