Turkish troops kill more Kurdish rebels

Turkish troops killed more than 30 Kurdish rebels as they set up an ambush near the border with Iraq, it emerged today.

The fighting on Tuesday brings the number of rebels killed this week to at least 64, according to military figures.

Turkey said its soldiers spotted a "crowded group of terrorists" near a military outpost in the province of Semdinli close to the border with Iraq and fired on them with tanks and artillery.

Meanwhile Turkey's president Abdullah Gul said today the country is running out of patience.

Turkey has threatened to send troops into northern Iraq if Iraqi Kurds and US-led coalition forces do not crack down on Kurdish rebels based there.

"We are totally determined to take all the necessary steps to end this threat," President Gul said at the opening of a foreign ministers' meeting before a visit by a high-level Iraqi delegation.

Turkey's top leadership, seeking to put pressure on Iraq's Kurds to act against the rebels, has called for economic measures against Iraq. The self-ruling Kurdish administration in Iraq's north relies heavily on Turkish investment.

Ankara is "expecting them to come with concrete proposals - otherwise, the visit will have no meaning," Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said.

An adviser to the Iraqi delegation said the two sides would first try to find a solution.

Iraq has promised to shut down offices used by rebel bases. But Turkey wants the bases destroyed and their leaders extradited to Turkey.

The US has urged Turkey not to enter Iraq for fear that an offensive could destabilise the region, one of Iraq's most stable.

But Turkey's prime minister said today that any decision to stage a cross-border offensive to fight Kurdish rebels is Turkey's alone.

The Bush administration "might wish that we do not carry out a cross-border offensive, but we make the decision on what we have to do", Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Tensions have been high since a rebel ambush near the border killed 12 soldiers on Sunday. Eight soldiers have been missing since then; the rebels say they are holding them hostage.

Turkey says rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, rest, train and get supplies in relative safety in Iraq before returning to Turkey to carry out attacks.