Turkey, United States and Iraq to create joint anti-PKK committee

20/11/2008

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The United States, Iraq and Turkey agreed on Wednesday (November 19th) to establish a joint committee to fight members of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani hosted a meeting in Baghdad attended by Turkish counterpart Besir Atalay, US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the commander of US forces in Iraq, General Ray Odierno.

Meanwhile, three Turkish soldiers and four Kurdish militants died in two separate clashes in southeast Turkey on Wednesday and Thursday. Four militants and two troops died in gun battles between security forces and PKK members in the Diyarbakir province. Another skirmish in a mountainous region killed one soldier and injured five others. (AFP - 20/11/08; Anadolu news agency, AFP - 19/11/08)