The Turkish army has ended its week-long ground offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, saying its forces had pulled out after achieving their objectives.
The withdrawal followed US pressure on its NATO ally to quickly wrap up the incursion, launched on 21 February against bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The army said the offensive had dealt a serious blow to the rebel group, with at least 240 militants killed and many ammunition depots destroyed.
The US said the incursion was targeted and 'relatively short' and reasserted its support for Turkey against the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community.
President George W Bush had urged Turkey yesterday to pull out as quickly as possible and Defence Secretary Robert Gates personally put pressure on Turkish leaders during talks in Ankara.
The Turkish military said the offensive, which included ground assaults and air raids, targeted rebel positions in and around Zap, a mountainous snow-bound region near the Turkish border, where a major PKK base and training camp is located.
Television footage showed dozens of transport vehicles loaded with soldiers crossing into Turkey from the border town of Cukurca, while empty vehicles winded up mountain roads in the opposition direction to pick up more troops.
The army said elite commando units conducted the operation, but gave no numbers. It said it lost 27 men and gave assurances that no Iraqi civilians were harmed.
The PKK claims to have killed around 100 soldiers, lost five and to have downed a Turkish attack helicopter.
The PKK took up arms for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
