After Turkish soldiers are killed, tensions rise on border with Iraq's Kurdish region

Nevertheless, there is plenty of saber-rattling in Turkey. In a front page article in the Turkish Today's Zaman newspaper headlined "Heinous attack stretches Turkey's patience to limit," the ambush is described as having been organized from within Kurdish Iraq.

A group of PKK terrorists infiltrated Turkish territory from northern Iraq and attacked a military unit from three different directions just after midnight near Dağlıc ... according to a statement from the General Staff. A total of 32 terrorists were killed as the military responded to the attack, and clashes are ongoing, the statement said.

The statement also hinted that a hot pursuit of the terrorists across the border with Iraq was under way, saying troops were chasing after the PKK members.... Some 63 suspected PKK targets were being shelled, the statement said, without explaining whether these targets were in Turkey or Iraq.

In a statement carried by the Fırat news agency, the mouthpiece of the PKK, the terrorist group said it was holding hostage several soldiers. Reports quoted PKK members as saying that the soldiers were being kept in Turkey, not in Iraq

The Los Angeles Times reports that Mr. Erdogan is scheduled to meet President Bush in Washington in early November and that the "PKK will undoubtedly top their agenda."

Through a spokesman, Bush denounced the new violence by "PKK terrorists" and called for the attacks to "be dealt with swiftly by the Iraqi government and Kurdish regional authorities."

Erdogan presided over the emergency meeting Sunday to plan a possible incursion. "Our anger, our hatred is great," the prime minister said before the session.

When officials emerged grim-faced hours later, they issued a statement accusing the PKK of attempting to use "heinous attacks" to "disrupt the unity and integrity of our society."

"Although Turkey respects Iraq's territorial integrity, it will not tolerate that terrorism is aided and abetted there, and it will not refrain from paying any price to protect its rights and law, territorial integrity and its people," the government said.

The New York Times reports that Turkey's threats are leaving the US in a difficult position and that senior Iraqi-Kurdish officials are digging in.

Action by Turkey, a NATO ally, would be extremely embarrassing for the United States, which has military control over the territory that the Turks are threatening to invade. Moreover, a Turkish advance into northern Iraq would instantly bring fresh troubles to a country where the United States is preoccupied with the war

For their part, Iraq officials offered a mixed response. While denouncing the Kurdish ambush and expressing the wish for good relations with Turkey, they rejected Turkish demands that militant leaders be captured and handed over to Turkey. "We are looking for peace, not war, and to solve problems peacefully," said Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president. But Mr. Talabani, who is himself a Kurd, added tartly, "We will not hand any Kurdish man to Turkey, even a Kurdish cat."

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