Turkish troops hunt Kurdish rebels
Elite commando units from Turkey have descended from helicopters and poured out of armoured cars to surround Kurdish rebels in a major operation along the Iraqi border, the country's state-run news agency said.
The Anatolia news agency said the offensive comes as the country's military and civilian leaders met on Monday to discuss ways to respond to a surge in Kurdish rebel attacks that left 12 Turkish soldiers dead over the weekend.
General Ilker Basbug, head of the military, has not ruled out a new cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq. He said the military has been using drones, bought from Israel, over northern Iraq to monitor rebel positions over the past 10 days.
Gen Basbug said "our duty is to find and eliminate terrorists wherever they are".