Turkey announced Friday that it had pulled its troops out of northern Iraq, concluding a large-scale offensive against Kurdish separatist guerrillas that has strained relations between the two U.S. allies.
A statement by the Turkish military command said the weeklong operation had achieved its goals by denying militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a permanent and secure base in the mountainous border region from which to launch attacks on Turkish territory.
“It is out of the question that the terrorist organization is entirely eliminated with one regional operation,” the Turkish command said in the statement posted on its Web site. “However, it has been shown to the organization that the north of Iraq is not a safe place for terrorists.”
Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, confirmed the pullout.
“As of this morning, 4 a.m., the Turkish troops who entered Kurdish territory have withdrawn and gone back to their side of the border,” Zebari said by telephone. “This is good news; we welcome that.”
The Turkish military said it “eliminated” 240 militants during the offensive, which it said took the lives of 24 Turkish soldiers and three village guards.
It also said it struck hundreds of infrastructure targets, including caves, shelters, command centers, training camps and logistic facilities, and weapons positions.
The militants have disputed the Turkish accounts, which they say are exaggerated.
In a separate development, gunmen abducted a Chaldean Catholic archbishop soon after he left mass in the northern city of Mosul, The Associated Press reported.
The gunmen killed three people who were with Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, said Iraqi Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdul Sattar, a spokesman for the Nineveh province police.
It was not known who was behind the kidnapping.