http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jaDuWzfSU9j8kRq1_7RqIucCgylg Kurdish rebel rocket attack kills six at Turkish base
By Sibel Utku Bila (AFP) – 2 days ago
ANKARA — Kurdish rebels fired rockets at a naval base Monday, killing six Turkish troops in the bloodiest attack in recent months, after their jailed leader signalled an end to peace efforts, officials said.
The attack saw Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) rebels target a military vehicle carrying troops to guard duty inside the base in the southern city of Iskenderun, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said.
He put the death toll at seven, but later his press office, contacted by AFP, revised the number down to six, the figure given also by the military.
Seven other soldiers were wounded in the attack, Arinc said, adding that three of them were in a critical condition in a military hospital in Ankara.
"We condemn the separatist terrorist organization that is behind this inhumane attack," he said, using the official jargon for the PKK which has been leading a 25-year insurgency against the Turkish government.
Additional troops were deployed in the Iskenderun area and a security operation was underway to catch the assailants, he added.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility by the PKK, an outlawed separatist group whose jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan has decided to abandon efforts to seek dialogue with the Turkish government.
But the group said in a statement, carried on the Internet site of the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency, that it would continue to use its "right to self defence effectively".
Five members of Turkey's security forces were killed Saturday in a string of attacks that gave a strong sign that efforts for peace between the Turkish government and the rebels are unravelling.
Army chief General Ilker Basbug cut short a visit to Egypt after the rocket attack, which coincided with a deadly Israeli operation on an aid convoy headed to the Gaza Strip, involving Turkish vessels.
Ocalan was jailed for life in 1999 but has retained his influence over the PKK from his prison cell on Imrali island, often issuing guidelines to rebels in statements released through his lawyers.
His calls for dialogue have been rejected by the government, which insists the PKK either lays down its arms or faces the army.
He was quoted in a PKK mouthpiece Saturday as having given up his pursuit of dialogue.
"Keeping up this process is no longer meaningful and useful. I am quitting after May 31 since I could not find an interlocutor," he told his lawyers during a recent prison visit, according to the Ozgur Politika newspaper.
Ocalan however said his decision did not amount to a call for the PKK to intensify its armed campaign.
"This should not be misunderstood. This is not a call for a war," he was quoted as saying.
Following a usual winter lull, violence has broken out anew in the southeast. The melting of snow has allowed the rebels to move out from their mountain hideouts in Turkey and neighbouring Iraq.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in 1984 for self-rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.
Last year, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government announced it would expand Kurdish freedoms in a bid to peacefully end the conflict.
The initiative however has faltered amid bitterness over a court ruling that outlawed Turkey's main Kurdish political party in December and public outrage at bloody PKK attacks.
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