Kurdish rebels attack Turk convoy

SIRNAK, Turkey — Kurdish rebels ambushed a Turkish military convoy on Sunday less than three miles from the Iraqi border, killing 12 soldiers in the face of growing threats by Turkey to cross the rugged frontier and root out the guerrillas.

Turkey shelled the border region in response to the attack, and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani — himself a Kurd — ordered the rebels to lay down their arms or leave Iraq. Turkey dismissed his call, saying the time had come for action.

Despite the harsher rhetoric, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday it appears Turkey's military is not on the verge of invading Iraq's most stable region in pursuit of the rebels — an incursion strongly opposed by the United States and Iraq.

Gates told reporters that in a meeting with Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, he advised against a major cross-border incursion despite the continuing provocations.

"I'm heartened that he seems to be implying a reluctance on their part to act unilaterally, and I think that's a good thing," Gates said. "I didn't have the impression that anything was imminent."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a phone conversation Sunday night that Turkey expected "speedy steps from U.S." in cracking down on Kurdish rebels, and that Rice expressed sympathy and asked "for a few days" from him.

Turkey's Parliament last week authorized the government to deploy troops across the border, and the military confirmed that soldiers were chasing the rebels and pounding 63 suspected positions with artillery. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek would not say however, whether some of those positions were on Iraqi soil.

"Whatever is necessary in this struggle is being done and will be done," Cicek said.

The troops, backed by helicopter gunships, killed 32 rebels on Sunday, Cicek said.

The rebel group, Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, claimed later that its guerrillas had also captured a "number" of Turkish soldiers. Eight soldiers were missing according, to private NTV television.

Cicek refused comment on the report, saying "the clashes are still under way."

"Every kind of attack will be avenged many times over," Cicek said.