Turkish helicopters and fighter jets have pounded Kurdish rebel positions. This comes as diplomatic efforts to avert a major offensive against the militants in northern Iraq got off to a rocky start.
Turkey described a series of proposals by an Iraqi delegation as unsatisfactory. Iraqi and U.S. officials met Turkish officials in Ankara in a bid to stop Turkey launching an incursion into northern Iraq.
Turkey had given Iraq a list of members of the outlawed PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) in northern Iraq and demanded all separatist rebels there were handed over.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops on the frontier before a possible cross-border operation against about 3,000 PKK militants, who launch deadly attacks into Turkey from Iraq.
The state-run Anatolian news agency said Turkish helicopters fired on PKK positions discovered by reconnaissance missions along the mountainous border and inside Turkey.
Turkish diplomats say a decision on potentially launching a major operation will not be made until Prime Minister Erdogan meets President Bush on 5 November.
