Turkey charges soldiers for Iraq incursion

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Turkish officials arrested eight soldiers, who had been kidnapped and released by rebel Iraqi Kurds, for crossing into another country without permission.

The group was taken hostage by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, in an attack Oct. 21 and were released Nov. 4, the Turkish Daily News reported.

The charges said there was "strong evidence that an extraordinary breach of military discipline and insistence on disobeying orders existed," the report said.

Turkey has more than 100,000 troops massed along the border to resist the rebel Kurds, who are seeking an autonomous nation out of parts of Iraq and Turkey.

The Turkish government has been urged by Iraq and numerous other countries not to cross the border to confront the rebels.