(Adds attack in southeast) By Hidir Goktas ANKARA, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Turkey's parliament on Wednesday approved a government request to extend a mandate to launch military operations against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, days after a cross-border attack killed 17 soldiers. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the military have pledged to step up a campaign to crush separatist guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) based in Iraq after Friday's attack, the deadliest against the military in a year. The vote, which had been widely expected to pass, was approved by 511 to 18, a ruling AK Party lawmaker told Reuters. The figures were later confirmed by parliament officials. Shortly before the vote, three police trainees and a civilian were killed and 22 other people were wounded in an attack on a police bus in southeast Turkey, police said. Unknown assailants armed with guns and explosives attacked a police bus on a busy street on the outskirts of Diyarbakir. At least 11 of the wounded were trainee police officers and the others were civilians, police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on the outskirts of the city of Diyarbakir. PKK rebels frequently attack Turkey's security forces in the southeast. Turkey blames the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the EU, for the deaths of more than 40,000 people since it launched its armed campaign for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984. NATO member Turkey has stepped up an offensive against PKK bases in northern Iraq over the past 12 months but has confined itself to shelling and air strikes since a brief large-scale land offensive in February. Several thousand rebels are believed based in the Iraqi mountains from where they launch attacks into Turkish territory. A large-scale offensive against the PKK in Iraq would draw sharp criticism from Turkey's main ally, the United States, and the European Union, which Ankara wants to join. Washington and Brussels are concerned that a major Turkish operation in northern Iraq would further destabilise Iraq and the wider region. Attacks on Turkish security forces by PKK rebels based in Iraq have strained ties between Iraq and Turkey, which accuses its neighbour of not doing enough to combat the rebels. (Writing by Ibon Villelabeitia; Editing by Charles Dick)
A policeman who was wounded in a bomb attack lies in a hospital in Baquba, 65km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad October 8, 2008. A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest ...
