Baghdad urges talks as Turkey, PKK clash in N.Iraq

By Shamal Aqrawi

ZAKHU, Iraq (Reuters) - Turkish troops engaged Kurdish PKK rebels in close combat on Sunday that left scores dead in a major ground offensive into northern Iraq.

Iraq's government said NATO member Turkey should withdraw its troops as soon as possible and urged Ankara to sit down with Baghdad for talks to resolve the crisis over the PKK.

The rebels said on Sunday they had shot down a Turkish Cobra attack helicopter. Baghdad and Washington fear the offensive could further destabilize Iraq.

Ankara launched the cross-border attack on Thursday after months of aerial bombardment of suspected PKK targets in the remote, mountainous region. It accuses rebels of using northern Iraq as a base to stage deadly attacks inside Turkey.

Turkey's General Staff said 33 PKK rebels, including a leader, and eight soldiers died in heavy, close combat in poor weather conditions on Sunday. It said at least 112 rebels and 15 soldiers have died since the operation began.

"The hot pursuit continues in three different regions (of northern Iraq) and our teams will carry out the operation with the same decisiveness and heroism," the General Staff said in a statement.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been battling for decades to create a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey, disputed the figures. It said 47 Turkish troops and two rebels had been killed since Thursday.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan sought to reassure the international community that Turkey's cross-border operation -- possibly its largest in a decade -- was focused on the PKK and would be limited in duration.

"Our Iraqi brothers should know that this operation is only to clean the terrorist camps and terrorists," Erdogan said.

But Iraq's government said it viewed the military action as "a threat to the stability of the region and a violation of Iraq's sovereignty and calls on Turkey to pull its troops from Iraq as soon as possible".

"The Iraqi government calls on Turkey to enter into bilateral dialogue with the Iraqi government and considers the threat of the PKK as a threat to Turkey and to the border areas," it said in a statement.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters Erdogan would send a special envoy to Baghdad on Wednesday to discuss security issues.

HELICOPTER

The PKK said it downed a Cobra attack helicopter on Saturday evening in the Chamsku area. The military said a helicopter had been rendered ineffective but said the cause was unknown.

Turkish special forces were parachuted into northern Iraq on Sunday as F-16 warplane, Cobra helicopter and artillery fire pounded suspected PKK positions, Turkish media reported.