Yalmas denies reports on attacking Iraq

The Turkish deputy prime minister on Monday denied news mentioned in the Turkish daily Hurriet on a tripartite plan to attack Iraq, noting that these reports are mere rumors.

In its Monday's issue, the Turkish daily Hurriet quoted military and intelligence sources quoting an Internet web-site that the US, Britain and Turkey will launch a tripartite plan on three stages against Iraq.

The sources added that the American and Turkish forces will launch an attack at Beyar and Tefalim in the Iraqi district of Shouman which is controlled by an extremist Turkish group called ( Jund al-Islam) " the soldiers of Islam," whose activities are financed by Osama Bin Laden, while the British units will launch an attack in the south against al- Basra.

The sources added that the third phase of the plan aims at the Iraqi capital Baghdad and will be carried out by land and air army units in order to topple Saddam Hussein regime.

On the other hand, the paper ( Hurriet) quoted the Turkish foreign minister Ismael Cim as saying during the telephone call he had made with his American counterpart Colin Powell as warning on Sunday that the situation in the world will be deteriorated if the Islamic world will be blamed over the suicide attacks which targeted recently the US.