Turkey, Iraq hold talks on counter-terrorism, border

ANKARA - Turkey's Defence Minister Yasar Guler and his Iraqi counterpart Thabet al-Abbasi discussed possible joint steps on counter-terrorism and border security during talks on Thursday, the Turkish defence ministry said.

Abbasi was visiting Ankara after Turkey carried out air strikes in northern Iraq on targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) after it said it orchestrated the first bomb attack in Ankara in years.

Iraq denounced the Turkish air strikes and Iraqi President Abdul-Latif Rashid said he hoped to come to an agreement with Ankara to solve this problem.

A defence ministry official said on Thursday that a ground operation into Syria is one option Turkey could consider after Ankara found that two attackers who had set off a bomb near government buildings at the weekend had come from Syria.

"Our only goal is to eliminate the terrorist organisations that pose a threat to Turkey. A ground operation is one of the options to eliminate this threat, but it is not the only option for us," the official said.