Turkish parliament extends mandate on Iraq strikes

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey’s parliament Wednesday extended the government’s mandate to order strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq as an attack on a police bus in the country’s southeast, killed four people.

The assault came just days after rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed 17 soldiers in a daytime attack on a military outpost near the border with Iraq. Of the 529 lawmakers present in the 550-seat chamber, 511 backed the motion giving the government another year-long mandate for cross-border operations against PKK hideouts in northern Iraq.