Turkish forces fanned into the mountains of northern Iraq Saturday in the hunt for Kurdish separatist rebels as their four-day-old incursion drew heavy fire from the United Nations and Western capitals.
Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency said 902 guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had been killed in the operation and 141 captured so far.Twelve members of the security forces, including the state-sponsored Kurdish militia, were also killed and 25 were wounded, the agency said, citing Turkish military sources. The Germany-based DEM agency said more than 40 Turkish soldiers had been killed.
The push over the Iraqi frontier, launched before dawn Wednesday, has been carried out behind a tight news blackout, making independent confirmation of casualty figures impossible.
Journalists were barred from the zone by Turkish troops and their Iraqi Kurdish allies, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Communications were also tightly restricted.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller was reported by Anatolian as saying she wanted the operation to be finished as soon as possible.
A spokesman for the anti-Baghdad Iraqi National Congress told Reuters contacts inside Arbil reported a gun battle there between members of the PKK and KDP late Friday.
He said three PKK offices had been overrun by KDP forces, with the occupants either killed or taken prisoner by morning.
One aid organization, the U.K.-based Mines Advisory Group, said it was pulling out of Dohuk because of security concerns.
Aid teams inside the Kurdish "safe haven," carved out by the Western allies after the gulf war, said the Turkish occupying forces appeared to be digging in for a lengthy stay.
They reported a large military camp had been set up at Summail, 6 miles west of Dohuk. Other troops had poured into nearby mountains, but most PKK rebels appeared to have fled to safety, the aid teams said.
The Turkish sweep through Iraq involving at least 10,000 troops has outraged the Iraqi government and caused alarm at the United Nations and in Western capitals.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned Turkey's action and urged Ankara to pull out its troops.
The European Union also called on Turkey to pull its forces out as soon as possible and warned against any loss of civilian life. Its call followed tough talk from Britain and France and lukewarm backing from the United States.