Turkey launches incursion into Iraq

Turkish soldiers, air force bombers and helicopter gunships reportedly launched an incursion into Iraq on Wednesday, hours after Kurdish rebels killed 26 soldiers and wounded 22 others in multiple attacks along the border, the Associated Press reported. 

Turkish authorities did not immediately confirm the incursion but the chief of the military as well as interior and defense ministers rushed to the border area and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled a visit to Kazakhstan.

NTV television, without citing sources, said Turkish troops had gone some 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) into Iraq and helicopters were ferrying commandos across the border.

It came hours after the rebels, who are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast, staged simultaneous attacks on military outposts and police stations near the border towns of Cukurca and Yuksekova early Wednesday.

The attacks left 26 soldiers dead and 22 others wounded, the Interior Ministry said. It was the deadliest Kurdish rebel attack since 1992, according to a tally by NTV television.

Kurdish rebel group the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, said clashes were taking place in two separate areas close to the mountainous Iraqi-Turkish border.