ARBIL - Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq Tuesday in the first ground incursion against Kurdish terrorists, overshadowing a visit to Iraq by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Turkey`s President Abdullah Gul said the army was "doing what is necessary in the fight against terrorism," while Rice said the United States, Iraq and Turkey shared a "common interest" in stopping rebel activities.
Annoyance over Washington`s perceived approval of the Turkish action created a diplomatic incident, with the president of Iraq`s autonomous Kurdish region reportedly refusing to meet Rice in Baghdad.
Iraq`s Kurdish regional administration initially said 300 Turkish soldiers advanced some three kilometres (nearly two miles) into northern Iraq before dawn, two days after warplanes bombed several villages along the border, targeting terrorist Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK) bases.
Early Tuesday evening, the office of Kurdish regional President Massud Barzani said the troops "have started to withdraw back into Turkish territory."
It said around 500 Turkish soldiers entered northern Iraq and remained in remote areas along the Iraq-Turkey border.
"There were no clashes," the statement said, referring to some media reports that the Turkish soldiers had clashed briefly with the peshmerga forces of the Iraqi Kurdish region.
As the reports of the incursion emerged, Rice arrived in Iraq on a surprise visit, landing in the northern oil city of Kirkuk.
It was later reported that Barzani was refusing to meet her because of the US position over Turkey sending soldiers into Iraq.
Barzani had warned Ankara about taking military action, saying the "blood of the people of Kurdistan is not cheap."
He also said Washington had a "moral duty" to protect his region from further Turkish strikes.
On Tuesday afternoon, Kurdish regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said "it was decided that Massud Barzani would go to Baghdad to take part in a meeting with Condoleezza Rice and other officials, but he will not go now as a sign of protest against the American position on the bombings by Turkey.
"It is unacceptable that the United States, in charge of monitoring our airspace, authorised Turkey to bomb our villages," he said.
On Sunday, Ankara`s most senior general, Yasar Buyukanit, said Turkey had received tacit US consent for the operation after Washington provided intelligence and opened up northern Iraqi airspace.
And Rice said in Baghdad that the PKK terrorists were threatening "the stability in the north, which clearly has resulted in deaths in Turkey."
Tension between Iraq and Turkey has been high since October 21 when the Iraq-based terrorists ambushed a Turkish military patrol, killing 12 soldiers.
Since then Ankara has been threatening to launch a military incursion to flush out PKK terrorists hiding out in Iraq`s mountainous north.
But lobbying by Washington and appeals by Baghdad stopped them from staging a full-fledged incursion.
Parliament in Ankara has also given its formal approval for the Turkish military to cross the border into northern Iraq.
The PKK has fought for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984, and more than 37,000 people have been killed on both sides since the conflict broke out.
Sunday`s air strikes by Ankara were strongly condemned by Baghdad as a "cruel attack" on Iraqi sovereignty.
Rice traveled to Kirkuk to back UN efforts to ease tensions among the city`s divided Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen communities in the face of longstanding Kurdish demands for it to be incorporated into their autonomous region.
"I look forward to talk with you about how the PRTs (provincial reconstruction teams) are helping to bring prosperity, creating jobs and bringing political reconciliation," Rice told elected municipal officials.
"You have a good partner in the US and we expect to be partners for a long time," she said, stressing the provincial council`s "importance for the future of Iraq, an Iraq that is democratic, an Iraq that can be for all Iraqis."
Rice`s visit comes a day after the Kurdish regional government agreed to put off for six months a promised referendum on the city`s future.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution had stipulated that the referendum be held by the end of this year.
After Kirkuk, Rice travelled on to Baghdad and held talks with senior Iraqi politicians urging them to boost national reconciliation by passing key legislations.
She urged them to adopt "urgent efforts to make certain that the legislative agenda is moving forward, that there would be passage of the budget so that the money can get to the governments, the provincial and local governments, as well as the use of services to support the Iraqi population."
She met President Jalal Talabani at his residence and was later expected to meet premier Nuri al-Maliki.
Washington has been pressing for Iraqi leaders to seize the opportunity of a fall in sectarian violence in recent months to push through legislation aimed at reconciling the divided communities.
In the latest violence, insurgents killed at least nine people in bomb attacks on Tuesday, security officials and medics said.

12/18/2007 16:48 GMT