Iraq urged Turkey on Saturday to give it time to implement measures aimed at restricting the movements of Kurdish separatist rebels, a day after Iraq’s president said a Turkish incursion was now “almost inevitable”.

Iraq’s former deputy health minister and a former senior ministry official will soon face trial, the Iraqi government said on Saturday, after accusations they helped Shi’ite militiamen fuel sectarian bloodshed.

The bodies of at least 30 people, including women and children, have been found in a mainly Sunni Arab area of Baghdad, police and government officials said on Saturday.