12 Turkish soldiers killed in Kurdish attack; Iraqi president orders rebels to disarm or leave

SIRNAK, Turkey — Kurdish rebels ambushed a military unit near Turkey's border with Iraq early Sunday, killing 12 soldiers and increasing pressure on the Turkish government to stage attacks against guerrilla camps in Iraq.

Iraq's president, a Kurd, ordered Kurdish guerrillas to lay down their weapons or leave, but Turkey's deputy prime minister said words were no longer enough: "We are expecting concrete steps from them."

The soldiers died when rebels blew up a bridge as a 12-vehicle military convoy was crossing it, less than three miles from the Iraq border, CNN-Turk television said. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said the military had circled a group of rebels, killed 23 of them and were shelling their positions.

"Our anger, our hatred is great," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on national television. He said the government would take "an approach that is calm, far from agitation and based on common sense."

A Kurdish rebel group also claimed its guerillas had captured a number of Turkish soldiers hostage. Cicek declined to comment on the claim, saying "the clashes are still underway."

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani urged the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, to stop their attacks amid fears an incursion would destabilize the relatively peaceful autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

"But if they insist on the continuation of fighting, they should leave Kurdistan, Iraq and not create problems here. And they should return to their countries and do there whatever they want," Talabani said at a joint news conference with Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.

Turkey has been pressing the U.S. and the Iraqi government to crack down on rebels who have found haven in the remote, mountainous areas of northern Iraq. The United States opposes any unilateral action by Turkey, fearing it could destabilize the most stable part of Iraq.

But Cicek rebuffed Talabani's call.

"Statements do not satisfy us, there has been nothing left to say, we are expecting concrete steps from them," Cicek said.

Talabani tempered his strong words, however, acknowledging the difficulties in controlling the rebels who operate from bases in northern Iraq.

"The leaders of PKK are not within our reach. They are based in Kurdistan's rugged mountains and the Turkish army, with all its might, was unable to dislodge or capture them," Talabani said.