"You should trust statements made by the Turkish Armed Forces," Babacan said in televised remarks, in response to a question on whether the warplanes had struck settlements along the border.

An Iraqi Kurdish official said that eight Turkish warplanes had bombed some villages near the Qandil mountains early Sunday, damaging bridges and causing some locals to flee.

The Turkish general staff said in a written statement that the air strikes, followed by artillery fire, had targeted bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in neighbouring northern Iraq.

The statement stressed that the operation was not against Iraqi Kurds.

Sunday's raid was the second such operation this month.

Babacan said that Ankara was determined to use all means -- political, diplomatic, economic and military -- to fight the PKK, which has been waging a 23-year separatist campaign for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's southeast.

"All of these instruments have been and will be used at the right time and in the right amount whenever it is necessary," Babacan said before his departure for Paris for a Palestinian donors' conference attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Turkish government in October secured parliamentary approval to order a cross-border military operation, if necessary, to crack down on PKK militants taking refuge in northern Iraq.

The United States and Iraq both oppose a ground assault by Turkish armed forces on concers that it would destabilize the relatively calm Kurdish-run north of Iraq.

related report
Turkish strike kills seven in Iraq: Kurdish rebels
Seven people, among them two civilians, were killed in Turkish air strikes Sunday in northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said Sunday.

"In the attacks, five guerillas and two civilians became martyrs. Three other guerillas sustained light injuries," the PKK said in a statement on its Internet site.

The statement added that the strikes also wounded "many civilians, among them women and children," in villages around the Qandil mountains, a stronghold of the PKK that was targetted in the raids.

A spokesman for the Democratic Communities of Kurdistan (KCK) was earlier quoted by the Kurdish Firat news agency on its Internet site as saying the strikes killed a woman and wounded five other civilians, but inflicted no losses on the PKK.

KCK is an umbrella organization bringing together the PKK and its affiliate organizations.

Hussain Ahmed, an Iraqi Kurdish official responsible for Qala Dizaa district near the Qandil mountains, said a woman was killed and five other people were wounded when Turkish planes bombed Leejuwa village.

Another Iraqi Kurdish official said eight Turkish warplanes had bombed several villages near the Qandil mountains, damaging bridges and causing locals to flee.

The Turkish army said its warplanes struck PKK targets in northern Iraq early Sunday and that artillery later pounded rebel positions.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan denied that civilian areas had been hit.

meanwhile...
Pentagon touts 'progress' between Ankara and Baghdad
Recent talks between Ankara and Baghdad on finding a "broader" solution to the problem posed by rebel Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have made progress, a senior US military officer said on Friday.

General Richard Sherlock said there has been "more and more dialogue going between the Turkish government and the Iraqi government" on the role of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after Turkish forces launched retaliatory strikes against the PKK.

"I think there has been a lot of progress, not just only on the military side, the progress has also been a dialogue recognizing that this needs a broader solution," Sherlock told a news conference.

"I think there is an improved line of communication both between us and Turkey and also ... between the government of Turkey and Iraq," he said.

Washington was working to support the talks and "there is a growing acceptance on the part of the governments of Turkey and Iraq that these are issues, and that need to be dealt with now," the general said.

He also said Baghdad had "taken some positive steps to restrict the PKK, their financing, their movements."

Turkey launched military action against PKK forces earlier this month inside Iraq after parliament gave the green light for intervention in October.

Washington has pressed Turkey, angered over cross-border attacks by PKK units based in Iraq, to refrain from military action and pushed for a diplomatic solution to the tensions.

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