( AP ) - Separatist Kurdish rebels attacked a military unit near Turkey's border with Iraq and Iran on Sunday, killing nine Turkish soldiers, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.
The attack came four days after Turkey's Parliament passed a motion allowing its military to launch an offensive into neighboring northern Iraq to stamp out the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, hiding there.
The rebels attacked the military unit, based near the Turkish town of Yuksekova, in Hakkari province, with heavy machinery, Anatolia said. Several soldiers were also injured in the violence.
Turkey has been pressing the United States and the Iraqi government to crack down on the rebels who launch attacks in Turkey from bases in the north of Iraq. The U.S. and Iraq oppose any unilateral action by Turkey, fearing it could destabilize northern Iraq, the most stable part of the country.
Patience has been wearing thin in Turkey and the latest attack is likely to increase calls for the military to stage an incursion.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey expected the United States to take action against the PKK but would take its own measures if it saw no results in the fight.