(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-02 22:15

Rice said initial three-way cooperation could include better ways of sharing information or means to restrict the rebels' movement. She did not rule out sanctions or other penalties on the PKK, but she did not address whether the Iraqis should pursue their own military raids.

"We'll try to talk through the various elements of a strategy, but we really need to look for an effective strategy, not just one that is going to strike out somehow and still not deal with the problem," she said.

Turkey did try on Thursday to allay fears about the extent of any assault it would launch across the Iraq border, saying such an attack would target guerrilla bases and not amount to an invasion.

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said the military, if it crosses the border, would try to avoid confronting the self-governing Kurdish leadership in northern Iraq. Turkish leaders suspect, however, that the administration there is assisting the PKK, or at the very least tolerating its presence at a network of mountain camps.

Both the US and Iraq governments fear a large military operation, opening a new front in the Iraq war, would unsettle what is now the most stable part of the country.

Turkey fears that Iraqi Kurds could set up an independent Kurdish state and fuel separatist sentiments within Turkey.

Turkey's military chief said last week his country will wait to decide on a major cross-border offensive until after Erdogan meets President Bush in Washington. Their meeting is set for Monday.

Many Turks are furious with the United States for its perceived failure to pressure Iraq into cracking down on the PKK rebels, whose full name is the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

Street protesters have urged the government to send forces across the border even if it means a deepening of the rift with the US, their Cold War ally.

The United States acknowledged this week that it has undertaken limited military moves against the rebels after asserting for weeks that the clash between Iraq and Turkey was a diplomatic matter.

Pentagon officials said the US was flying manned spy planes over the border area, providing Turkey with more intelligence information, and that there are standing orders for American forces to capture rebels they find.

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