Kurdish rebels launch deadliest attack in decades, world reacts

Turkey launched air and ground assaults on Kurdish militants in Iraq today, vowing to take "great revenge" after 24 Turkish soldiers were killed in one of the deadliest Kurdish attacks in decades. US President Barack Obama and the European Union led a chorus of Western condemnation of Kurdish rebel attacks, voicing support for Ankara as its forces launched retaliatory air and ground assaults in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Turkish officials said about 100 fighters from the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, mounted simultaneous attacks under cover of darkness on seven remote army outposts in Hakkari province, on Turkey's rugged southeastern border with Iraq. The PKK, which is fighting for greater Kurdish rights from bases in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, confirmed it carried out the attacks, in which it said five guerrillas died.

The fighting, in which Turkey said it killed 15 militants, threatened wider instability at a time of upheaval in nearby Syria and the imminent withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

Turkish security sources said commandos pushed up to 8 km (5 miles) into Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish fighters and aircraft struck targets around a guerrilla camp on the Zab river.

Backed by his NATO allies, who condemned the attacks as an act of terrorism, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said: "No one should forget this: those that inflict this pain on us will endure far greater pain; those that think they will weaken our state with these attacks or think they will bring our state into line, they will see that the revenge for these attacks will be very great and they will endure it many times over."

Twenty-four soldiers were killed and 18 wounded in the surprise attacks, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said at a televised news conference in which he said wide-ranging operations, including hot pursuit missions, had been launched.

Turkish media had earlier put the death toll at 26.

Erdogan cancelled a foreign trip had been about to start and convened an emergency meeting with the interior and defense ministers, along with intelligence chiefs and top generals. The foreign minister also cancelled a planned visit abroad.

Obama vowed to continue US cooperation with Turkey in facing the PKK.

"The United States will continue our strong cooperation with the Turkish government as it works to defeat the terrorist threat from the PKK and to bring peace, stability and prosperity to all the people of southeast Turkey," Obama said in a statement.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed deep concern over the attacks and said the EU continued to view the PKK as a "terrorist" organization.

"I was appalled to learn of today's shameful terrorist attacks in Turkey by the PKK. I condemn them in the strongest terms, and deeply regret the loss of life," Ashton said in a statement.

"I stress once again that the EU stands with Turkey in its resolve to fight against terrorism."

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement "there is no justification for such acts of violence" and that NATO "stood in solidarity in the fight against terrorism" with member Turkey.