PKK ambush draws Turkish ire

The Turkish leadership has vowed to retaliate after 15 soldiers died in an eight-hour battle with fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party.

The soldiers died in an overnight attack on their base in the southeast of the country.

The army says it killed at least 23 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in the exchange.

Friday's attack is the deadliest by the separatist Kurdish group in recent years.

Abdullah Gul, the Turkish president, cancelled a visit to France on Saturday and, in a video address, said: "Let me underline once again that we will continue the struggle [against the PKK] whatever the cost.

"We are investigating how this treacherous attack took place, who facilitated it. Everyone will be held to account."

The ambush took place in Semdinli in Hakkari province, along the borders with Iraq and Iran.

The Turkish military regularly carryies out air assaults on PKK bases across the border in Iraq.

Turkey's foreign ministry urged Iraq to "take the necessary precautions and prevent the repetition of such attacks". Iraq condemned the attack but called on Turkey to act with "wisdom and self-restraint".

Halidun Zomazturk, a retired Turkish brigadier-general, told Al Jazeera: "At last the government is taking this very seriously."