Three Turkish soldiers killed in rebel mine blast

[Barrett808]

Source: Reuters

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, July 18 (Reuters) - Three Turkish soldiers were killed and five were injured on Wednesday when a mine, planted on a road by Kurdish rebels, exploded in southeast Turkey, security officials said.

Turkey has raised troop levels in the restive southeast to more than 200,000, with many near the Iraq border, senior security sources say, as part of a crackdown on guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The blast occurred when a vehicle carrying the soldiers, who were returning from a patrol, drove over the mine in the Cukurca district of Hakkari province near the border with Iraq.

The injured soldiers were flown by helicopter to a military hospital for treatment.

Read more: http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18862513.htm

[iconoclastic cat]

1. That could get very bad, very quickly.

The US would side with Turkey against the Kurds, and we'd have yet another militant group shooting at US forces and another unstable region of Iraq.

[seemslikeadream]

2. up to 200,000

just a couple of days ago it was 140,000. I wonder why?

[acmavm]

3. The Kurds are being very stupid. IF THEY DID THIS. I mean,

there are too many people who do not want an independent homeland for the Kurds, especially if the Kirkuk oil fields go with it.

[youngdem]

4. Yup. These are false flag attacks, is my guess.

Turks have wanted to wipe out the Kurds forever, banning their language in schools, customs, religious practices etc, and they live in Turkey's Oil Patch, so the threat of Kurdish separatism is frightening on many fronts for the Turks.

The Iraq War offers a great opportunity for them to destroy the Kurds in the name of self-defense given the chaos the US created by invading. The Turks could easily invade and offer an olive branch to the US, whereby the Turks act as a buffer between Iran and Israel, and in exchange the US accepts Turkey's occupation of Northern Iraq.

And the US has an inferior sized force than the Turks do (150ish to 200K). And they have more actual fighters among their numbers as a percentage. So what are we really gonna say if the Turks decide to 'protect themselves' from 'Kurdish rebels'. I would bet most Kurds are well aware that now is not the time to be attacking and provoking the Turks, amassed at their border, their fragile peace already at risk.

I suspect Turkish sabotage.

[Javaman]

5. And this couldn't have anything to with the turks shelling the Kurds or

amassing 200K soldiers on the Iraqi border, could it?

Yeah, things just fall out of the sky.

:banghead: