ANKARA, Turkey - Hundreds of Turkish soldiers crossed into northern Iraq on 
Wednesday pursuing Kurdish guerrillas who stage attacks on Turkey from hideouts 
there, Turkish security officials and an Iraqi Kurd official said. 
 
 
   A Turkish man carrying a national flag chants slogans during 
 the funeral ceremony of Turkish soldier Emrah Kayadelen in Istanbul, 
 Turkey, Wednesday, June 6, 2007. [AP]
   | 
The reports came amid worries 
Turkey might launch an offensive against the rebel bases, touching off a 
conflict with US-backed Iraqi Kurds in one of Iraq's most stable regions. The US 
is urging its NATO ally not to strike, and Turkey's foreign minister denied any 
incursion occurred. 
An American intelligence official in Washington, who agreed to discuss the 
tense situation along the frontier only if not quoted by name, said the reports 
of a border crossing should be treated with skepticism. 
The official said some Turkish officials might be feeling pressure to show 
increasingly angry Turks that the government is responding to a recent 
escalation of attacks by PKK rebels, who are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's 
heavily Kurdish southeast. On Monday, for instance, Kurdish rebels assaulted a 
Turkish outpost and killed seven soldiers. 
Three Turkish security officials said troops crossed the border Wednesday. 
But they described the operation as just a "hot pursuit" raid that was limited 
in scope, and one said the soldiers left Iraqi territory by the end of the day. 
The officials, all based in southeastern Turkey, spoke on condition of 
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists. 
Turkish authorities rarely acknowledge such military operations against the 
PKK, but the army has conducted brief raids across the border in the past. 
Despite the dispute over whether an incursion happened, the reports were 
likely to heighten anxieties over whether Turkey is planning a large-scale 
invasion. The last such operation was in 1997 and involved 50,000 soldiers. 
Turkish leaders have said they are considering an offensive, and have sent 
more troops and equipment to the frontier. But they hope the US and Iraqi Kurds 
will stage their own crackdown on the separatists, who raid southeast Turkey 
after resting, training and resupplying in Iraq. 
Washington lists the PKK as a terror group, but most US troops in Iraq are 
busy dealing with violence elsewhere and most of the 16,500 US soldiers in the 
north are engaged in training Iraqi forces. 
The Iraqi Kurd administration, meanwhile, has testy relations with Turkey, 
which has accused it of backing the PKK movement. 
One Turkish security official said 600 commandos entered Iraq before dawn 
after Kurdish rebels shot at Turkish patrols near the Turkish border town of 
Cukurca. The commandos returned to Turkey later in the day, the official said. 
Two other officials said troops went less than two miles into a remote, 
mountainous area in Iraq. 
An Iraqi Kurd security official in the Shanzinan area said 150 Turkish 
soldiers occupied a mountain about a half mile inside Iraq for an hour and then 
left. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 200 other Turks 
staged a similar cross-border operation around the same time in the nearby 
Sirzeri area. 
It was not immediately clear whether the Kurdish official referred to the 
same raid cited by the three Turkish officials. 
Turkey's private NTV television quoted Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as 
saying the reports of a cross-border operation were false. 
"There is no such thing, no entry to another country. If such a thing 
happens, then we would announce it," Gul said. "We are in a war with terror. We 
will do whatever is necessary to fight terrorism." 
Several officials at the Pentagon said they had seen nothing to confirm a 
border crossing by Turkish troops. But one said small numbers of Turkish 
soldiers occasionally conduct counterinsurgency operations inside Iraq. The 
officials insisted on speaking anonymously. 
The White House also said there had been "no new activity" in northern Iraq. 
But Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, repeated 
that Washington remains "concerned about the PKK and the use of Iraq as a safe 
haven."