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US forces arrest 11 Turkish soldiers in Iraq
Istanbul, July 05: US forces in Iraq have arrested 11 Turkish soldiers on suspicions of fomenting an attack on a Kurdish governor in northern Iraq, the Turkish media reported on today.
Istanbul, July 05: US forces in Iraq have arrested 11 Turkish soldiers on suspicions of fomenting an attack on a Kurdish governor in northern Iraq, the Turkish media reported
on today.
Three officers and eight non-commissioned officers were arrested yesterday in Sulaymaniyah, fiefdom of the Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani of the patriotic union of
Kurdistan, the Hurriyat newspaper reported.
About 100 US soldiers stormed the local offices of the Turkish special forces after cutting the telephone lines. The 11 soldiers and six employees were taken to the nearby city of Kirkurk, the daily said. The arrests were carried out on the grounds that "certain Turks were planning to commit an attack on the governor of Kirkuk", Hurriyat continued.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reportedly furious at the US raid on his troops. "This is a repugnant incident that should never have happened," Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying.
"We cannot accept this," Erdogan protested, condemning the US for "behaviour unworthy of two allied countries in a coalition".
The Turkish leader told Anatolia he had demanded the immediate release of the men. He said foreign minister Abdullah Gul had discussed the arrests with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had assured him that the Turkish soldiers were safe and that he would do what he could to have them freed.
Bureau Report
About 100 US soldiers stormed the local offices of the Turkish special forces after cutting the telephone lines. The 11 soldiers and six employees were taken to the nearby city of Kirkurk, the daily said. The arrests were carried out on the grounds that "certain Turks were planning to commit an attack on the governor of Kirkuk", Hurriyat continued.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reportedly furious at the US raid on his troops. "This is a repugnant incident that should never have happened," Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying.
"We cannot accept this," Erdogan protested, condemning the US for "behaviour unworthy of two allied countries in a coalition".
The Turkish leader told Anatolia he had demanded the immediate release of the men. He said foreign minister Abdullah Gul had discussed the arrests with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had assured him that the Turkish soldiers were safe and that he would do what he could to have them freed.
Bureau Report