Mar 3, 2008, 15:18 GMT
Ankara - Turkey's top general on Monday defended the surprise ending of the military's incursion into northern Iraq, saying the main aim of the operation was a Kurdish separatist camp in Zap valley, and that once that had been destroyed the troops were ordered home.
'The Zap base was the target. Zap was the brain of armed terrorism,' NTV private television quoted General Yasar Buyukyanit as saying.
Zap valley is located about six kilometres inside Iraq and has been used a major staging post for PKK fighters to launch attacks inside Turkey.
Turkey had launched 'Operation Gunes' on the night of February 21, with some 10,000 soldiers sent across the border to seek out Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) rebels and their camps.
According to the Turkish military, 240 PKK fighters, 24 Turkish soldiers and three state-employed village guards were killed in the week-long operation.
Buyukyanit said that once the target of Zap had been destroyed the troops were ordered back. He denied reports that Turkey had ordered the withdrawal under pressure from the United States.
The general also refused to rule out another cross-border operation saying 'we have more lessons to give the PKK... We will strike an even harder blow.'
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