Gunfire echoes out into the night after a deadly attack by Kurdish rebels on Turkish military outposts.<br/> At least 24 Turkish soldiers were killed and 18 wounded - the biggest single death toll for Turkish security forces in years.<br/> Ankara promised a swift and strong response, launching air raids on Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq.<br/> Turkish commandos also crossed the border in pursuit of the rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK.<br/> Underlying the gravity of the situation, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a planned trip to Kazakhstan.<br/> Erdogan vowed to breathe down the necks of those responsible for the killing of the 24 soldiers.<br/> The Prime Minister said that wide reaching operations were underway in hunting down the rebels, within the framework of international law.<br/> Kurdish rebels took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, and more than 40,000 people have since died in the conflict.<br/> The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.<br/> Simon Hanna, Reuters.
