"There has not been any major incursion or land invasion ... What is going on is around a few hundred Turkish forces have crossed the border looking for the PKK or their bases," Hoshiyar Zebari said.

The US military said it was aware that Turkish forces had launched the offensive against the PKK, considered a terrorist group by Ankara, the US and the EU.

Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said the operation was understood to be of "limited duration" and aimed solely at PKK fighters hiding in the area.

NATO member Turkey says it has the right under international law to hit Turkish PKK rebels who shelter in northern Iraq and have mounted attacks inside Turkey that have killed scores of troops. Turkey says some 3,000 PKK rebels are based in Iraq.

Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since it began an armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

Turkey's military said the cross-border offensive was launched at 1700 GMT on Thursday.

Turkish television said troops, backed by warplanes and Cobra attack helicopters, had moved 25 km inside Iraq. Television footage showed dozens of tanks moving at high speed near the Iraqi-Turkish border.

A senior US State Department official said the land incursion was "not the greatest news".

(China Daily via Agencies February 23, 2008)