AMMAN (Reuters) - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, speaking from the capital of Jordan, yesterday warned against Turkish military incursions to pursue Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels using northern Iraq as a base, saying this could destabilize Iraq. Zebari said US forces in Iraq were already poised to capture the rebels. Meanwhile, a Turkish engineer was abducted in Iraq by armed men on the road between northern Iraq's Bayji and Kirkuk cities, CNN Turk television reported on Saturday. The TV quoted Iraqi police as saying the engineer was employed at a power station in Bayji, but police would not release his identity. Also, Agence France-Presse reported that the PKK was ready to hand over a Turkish soldier it kidnapped two weeks ago if the government provided security guarantees.

ANKARA (AFP) - Swiss authorities questioned the leader of a minor left-wing Turkish party for saying that the killings of Armenians during World War I could not be classified as genocide, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. Dogu Perincek, the chairman of the Workers' Party (IP), was briefly detained late Saturday in the Swiss town of Winterthur where he was taking part in activities to mark the 82nd anniversary of the Lausanne Treaty, the founding accord of modern-day Turkey, the agency said. He was questioned by the city prosecutor for three-and-a-half hours before being released. Winterthur police spokesman Werner Benz was quoted by the agency as telling reporters that Perincek was questioned for saying «the Armenian genocide is an international lie,» a remark deemed to be racist under Swiss law.

A soldier in the Serbia-Montenegro army shot two security guards early Saturday at a club in an eastern Serbian town, seriously wounding the guards and lightly wounding a guest, police said in a statement. The shooting at the Midnight Express cafe in Bor, 150 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Belgrade, took place at 2 a.m. after the club's bouncers ordered the soldier, Dejan Panic, 23, out because of unruly behavior, the police said. Shortly afterward, Panic returned to the club and opened fire on the two guards at close range. One of the guards underwent surgery for three bullet wounds to the abdomen and his condition was reported as critical. The second guard was shot in the spine. Police issued an arrest warrant for the soldier. (AP)