KEY POINTS:
ISTANBUL - The Turkish prime minister saw eye to eye with the army over a possible military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, following a bomb attack in Ankara which killed six, according to state media.
Ankara says thousands of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatist guerrillas use northern Iraq as a base, and last month armed forces chief Yasar Buyukanit called for a military operation into Iraq to quash them.
Asked whether such an operation was being considered, the state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as saying: "We will do whatever is necessary for our country's peace and happiness.
"On this issue there can be no question of any difference of opinion with our armed forces, with our soldiers... On this issue, when it is necessary this step will be taken."
On Tuesday local time a suicide bomber killed six and injured dozens in a shopping mall in Ankara, the worst attack in the capital in at least a decade.
Ankara Governor Kemal Onal said the attack bore the hallmarks of Kurdish separatism but the PKK, whose separatist campaign goes back to 1984, denied it was responsible.
- REUTERS
