(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-19 16:24

WASHINGTON -- The White House on Tuesday declined to condemn Turkish incursion into Iraq, saying that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters are "a threat" to Turkey, Iraq, and the United States.

Instead, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters that "We are coordinating with the Turkish and Iraqi authorities in the area. The PKK is a threat to Turkey, to Iraq, and to the United States. So we continue to share information, share intelligence, with them (Turkish and Iraqi authorities)."

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"The Turks have moved forward with our coordination and in communication with the Iraqis in order to eradicate that threat," Perino said.

Referring Turkish incursion into Iraq, the spokeswoman also noted that the United States had urged Turkey to take "very targeted and limited" action against PKK militants.

"Since there are conflicting reports, let's wait and see what is actually happening on the ground there before we comment. We have asked Turkey to keep the operations very targeted and limited," Perino said.

"I think we should wait until there's more concrete information from the ground in terms of how far the incursion was, how many people, who all was involved," said the spokeswoman.

The United States supports Ankara's effort to fight against Kurdish separatists operating at Turkey-Iraq border area, but is opposed to Turkey's unilateral incursion into Iraq on the PKK.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking decades of strife that has claimed more than 30,000 lives.