Turkey has sent troops across the border into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels, prompting calls for restraint from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
The Turkish military says the operation started Thursday night following air and artillery strikes against suspected positions of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in Iraq. Military officials say five Turkish soldiers and 24 Kurdish rebels were killed Friday during the ground offensive.
The military says it also believes dozens more rebels were killed by artillery and helicopter fire. Iraq's Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador Friday to protest the military incursion into northern Iraq. A U.S. State Department spokesman (Sean McCormack) says Washington has urged Turkey to strictly limit military operations to target only rebels. European Union officials urged Turkey to refrain from taking any "disproportionate military action."