Turk army says will respond to militant attacks

Ankara, June 8: Turkey's General Staff said today the armed forces were determined to fight terrorism and they had an unquestionable right to respond to militant attacks.

The statement, posted on the General Staff's Web site, comes amid growing speculation that the army could launch an operation into northern Iraq to tackle Kurdish guerrillas based there.

''The Turkish Armed Forces have an unshakeable determination to fight terrorism and it is an incontrovertible reality that we will respond to these kind of attacks,'' the statement said, referring to a series of Kurdish rebel strikes against civilian and military targets in Turkey.

Reuters>