(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-27 19:24

Washington, however, said its NATO ally had acted "responsibly so far" and called for cooperation between Ankara and Baghdad.

"We understand that Iraq does not want Turkey to be in their region but they also don't want the PKK up in their northern region and they understand what it's like to have terrorists attacking innocent civilians," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Ankara has defended the incursion as a legitimate act of self-defence and promised that its forces will return home in the shortest possible time.

On Tuesday, the army said heavy snow in northern Iraq hampered its operations in the mountainous region as local Iraqi sources said troops were closing in on a major PKK camp in the Zap area, near the border.

The army's death toll since the incursion began stood at 19 troops and at least 153 PKK militants.

The rebels claim to have killed around 90 troops, including five shot dead in an ambush Tuesday, and to have downed a Turkish attack helicopter.

Ankara says an estimated 4,000 PKK rebels are holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq and use the region as a springboard for attacks in Turkey.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984

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