Dozens die in Turkey border clash

At least 12 Turkish soldiers have been killed following an ambush by Kurdish rebels near the Iraqi border - with 32 rebels also killed, officials say.

The PKK guerrilla group claimed it had also taken "several" soldiers hostage. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recalled security officials to Ankara for a crisis meeting. Correspondents say the attacks will increase the pressure on the government to launch raids into Iraq, after it was given clearance to do so by parliament.

On Wednesday, MPs voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion to allow the military to launch offensives across the border, against rebels based in the remote, mountainous north of Iraq.

It followed an escalation of raids by the PKK - the Kurdistan Workers' Party - as part of its armed campaign for Kurdish autonomy. Recent attacks blamed on the group have left more than 30 Turkish soldiers and civilians dead.

About 3,000 PKK fighters are believed to be based in northern Iraq near the Turkish border, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul. There have been regular clashes in the area since earlier in the year, but the latest attack was one of the deadliest for some time. The clashes will increase pressure on the government from the public and the military for a tough response, our correspondent says.

The United States, Turkey's Nato ally, has called for restraint, fearing that any incursions would destabilise Iraq's most peaceful area - the autonomous Kurdish region in the north.