Iraqi PM in Turkey For Security Talks
07 August 2007
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in Turkey for talks expected to focus on security concerns and Turkish Kurd rebels who use Iraqi territory as safe haven.
Mr. Maliki described the visit as an effort to develop wide-ranging bilateral relations.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to warn Mr. Maliki Tuesday, against allowing Kurdistan Workers' Party - or PKK - rebels to shelter in northern Iraq.
Turkey has threatened cross-border military raids to destroy PKK bases. The United States and Iraq say such an operation will destabilize Iraq's relatively calm Kurdish north.
The head of northern Iraq's Kurdish administration, Massoud Barzani, has rejected Turkey's demands to crackdown on PKK guerrillas.
Mr. Maliki heads to Iran Wednesday.
In Iraq, the U.S. military says coalition forces killed eight terrorists in raids across the country.
A military statement says troops killed five terrorists during raids north of Baghdad Monday targeting an al-Qaida in Iraq leader involved in car bomb attacks.
The U.S. military says coalition forces acted on intelligence from that operation and carried out more raids Tuesday, killing three terrorists. Troops also captured 15 suspected al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists in operations in Tikrit, Mosul and Bayji.
Separately, the military announced Tuesday that troops detained a commander of the Mahdi Army, which is loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
