Turkish troops enter Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels

Islamic State seen as beneficiary

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey deployed ground forces across the border into northern Iraq on Tuesday for the first time since 2011, stepping up its battle against Kurdish rebels who have stung the Turkish military with a string of attacks in recent weeks.

The move, however, could frustrate the U.S.-led alliance’s efforts against the Islamic State group because Turkey is now hunting down the very fighters who are trying to hold back the militant group from taking more territory in Syria and Iraq.

Turkish authorities haven’t given a specific time frame for the operation in northern Iraq, although one official said it was a “short-term” offensive to root out rebels. Turkish jets also carried out more airstrikes against rebel camps in the region.

The cross-border operations came amid a wave of attacks by the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that killed at least 31 soldiers and police since Sunday.

Turkey, a NATO ally, signed up for a more active participation in the U.S.-led coalition, after a deadly suicide bombing in July blamed on Islamic State. It has allowed U.S. warplanes and drones to take off for missions against the terrorist group in Syria and its jets have struck Islamic State targets near its border, in Syria.

But the country’s main focus has been its fight against the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency for Kurdish autonomy.

Turkey’s ground and aerial incursions against the PKK pose a difficult situation for the U.S.-led coalition, which includes Canadian forces.

The Kurds are doing much of the fighting against Islamic State across the border in Syria and in northern Iraq.

The PKK, which maintains bases in northern Iraq, has fought alongside Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces.