Special to WorldTribune.com

Turkey sent ground troops into northern Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels suspected of a bomb attack that killed 16 Turkish soldiers on Sept. 6.

Tensions have increased in Turkey following the failure of Islamist President Recep Erdogan’s AKP party to increase his power in the June elections in which the Kurdish minority for the first time won significant representation in parliament.

Two battalions from Turkey’s special forces crossed the border into Iraq, according to the Dogan news agency.

Anadolu Agency reported that Turkish F-16 and F-4 fighter jets bombed a group of up to 25 Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels believed to have carried out the bombing with improvised explosive devices that killed the 16 soldiers near the border with Iraq on Sept. 6.

The agency said the jets struck the rebels on their escape routes in Iraq and also targeted six rebel camps there.

Meanwhile, Turkish state media reported on Sept. 7 that a roadside bomb allegedly detonated by Kurdish rebels killed 14 policemen in eastern Turkey after Turkish jets also carried out airstrikes against the rebels and their camps in northern Iraq, with at least 40 rebels reportedly killed.

The attack on the policemen comes amid increased violence between Ankara’s security forces and the PKK. The Sept. 6 attack that killed 16 soldiers was the deadliest assault on Turkish security forces since renewed fighting in July, derailing a peace process with the Kurds.

Turkey is holding a new election on Nov. 1 following the failure of the ruling party of President Recep Erdogan to form a coalition government after June elections due in part to the success of the Kurdish opposition HDP  party.

Some observers see the government’s agreement with the United States for joint operations against ISIL as part of a strategy to expand military operations instead against Kurdish forces to improve Erdogan’s prospects in the November election.

  PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey enters Iraq after Kurdish attack kills 16 soldiers, WorldTribune.com