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ANKARA,Turkey- Turkey's military chief threatened Monday to send the armed forces into Iraq again to "teach further lessons" to Kurdish rebels and claimed that a recent incursion was a success despite harsh winter weather.The eight-day operation was launched to strike rebels who use bases in northern Iraq to stage hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets.Turkey withdrew on Feb. 29."There are further lessons that we need to teach," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told journalists in a briefing on Turkey's offensive against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK."There will be operations when needed.We will continue.We will try to inflict heavier blows on the PKK." Buyukanit said the troops carried out raids against rebel positions at night and in deep snow."We knew that the weather conditions would be very harsh, the area is extremely rugged. Our units have turned disadvantages into advantages due to the operational capability of the armed forces," Buyukanit said.Buyukanit said the troops have killed at least 240 rebels out of some 300 who were detected in the Zap region close to the Turkish border.Troops with night vision goggles used the cover of darkness to kill most of the rebels, and warplanes dropped 2,000-pound bombs at cave entrances and destroyed anti-aircraft batteries, he said.Gen.Ilker Basbug, chief of the Land Forces, said there were between 2,320 and 2,640 rebels in northern Iraq before the operation."We targeted Zap because it is where the armed attacks of the PKK against Turkey are masterminded,"Buyukanit said.The operation followed an ambush by the PKK in October that left 12 soldiers dead in Daglica area along the rugged border."After Daglica, we needed to teach a lesson to the bloody terrorist organization and we did," Buyukanit said.Buyukanit again denied that the troop withdrawal had anything to do with U.S. pressure on Turkey to pull out."Speculation that Turkey got out because the United States said go out is not true,"Buyukanit said."If they can prove it, I will take off this uniform."The withdrawal of the Turkish troops came a day after the United States urged the country to pull its forces out of Iraq quickly.However, the military chief insisted that the withdrawal was carried as planned and after all goals were achieved."We could not carry out the operation for another week, otherwise we would have suffered losses" due to the cold weather, Buyukanit said.Buyukanit urged the government not to make concessions to the rebels, saying the struggle could not be won "through military measures alone."
As in the days of Noah....
