CUKURCA, Turkey — A Turkish helicopter crashed in Iraq and eight soldiers were killed during a cross-border ground operation against Kurdish rebels, who planted booby traps on the bodies of their slain comrades, Turkey’s military said Sunday.
The guerrillas said they shot down a Turkish military helicopter near the Turkish-Iraqi border. Turkey’s military said technicians were inspecting the wreck to determine why the helicopter crashed near the border. It was not clear if any of the reported troop casualties were on board. Their deaths bring the Turkish toll since the start of the incursion Thursday to 15, the military said on its website.
Thirty-three rebels were killed in Sunday’s fighting, bringing the rebel death toll since Thursday to 112, according to the armed forces.
The incursion is the first confirmed Turkish military ground operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, are fighting for autonomy in predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey.
The Turkish military said advancing troops were destroying rebel shelters, logistic centers and ammunition.
