ANKARA, Feb 29: Turkey pulled its troops out of northern Iraq on Friday, ending a major offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels that Washington feared could spread conflict through the region.

A statement by Turkey’s armed forces General Staff denied any foreign influence on the decision, which came a day after US President George W. Bush urged a swift end to the offensive.

“There was no question of completely liquidating the terrorist organisation, but Turkey has shown the organisation that northern Iraq is not a safe haven for them,” the General Staff said.

Turkey sent thousands of soldiers into mountainous northern Iraq on Feb 21 to crush rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who use the region as a base for attacks on Turkish territory.

“It was determined that the aims set at the start of the operation had been achieved,” the General Staff said in its statement. “Our units returned to their bases (in Turkey) on the morning of Feb 29.”

Meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari welcomed the Turkish decision to leave Iraq. But Turkey’s Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin, quoted by TV networks, said Ankara reserved the right to send troops again into Iraq if needed. A parliamentary mandate allowing the army to stage cross-border operations only expires in October.

Washington, like Ankara and the EU, brands the PKK a terrorist organisation, and has been supplying intelligence to the Turkish military on the PKK in Iraq.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, on a brief trip to Ankara on Thursday, urged a short, carefully targeted campaign.

Turkey’s military said it had killed 240 Kurd rebels and suffered the loss of 27 soldiers during the eight-day offensive, waged in deep snow and subzero temperatures in tough mountainous terrain.

The PKK said it killed more than 130 Turkish troops but only five rebels had died. It was not possible to verify the figures.

Turkey had said the ground operation, backed by warplanes, tanks, long-range artillery and attack helicopters, would continue until the PKK no longer posed a threat to Turkey.

The withdrawal without apparently rooting out all PKK bases will raise questions about how seriously weakened the rebel movement has been.—Reuters