Ankara/Arbil: Turkey's prime minister yesterday said that Iraq could satisfy Turkey, forestalling Turkish military action in northern part of the country, by eradicating Kurdish rebel bases and extraditing rebel leaders.

But Iraq's foreign minister has said the country does not have the resources now to defeat the guerrillas. And the exchange did not appear to diminish the prospect that a new war front might soon be opened inside Iraq.

Turkey has threatened to cross the Iraqi border to try to wipe out Kurdish rebel bases, arguing it has the right to fight terrorism.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, said on Thursday that Baghdad was willing to increase pressure on the guerrilla Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. But his comments drew a mixed response from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"We welcome this as a positive step, but it is an announcement that came late," Erdogan said yesterday in Istanbul. "The PKK camps must be eradicated and the rebel leaders must be extradited. That would satisfy Turkey." Zebari said on Thursday that Iraq doesn't have the forces to push the PKK out of Iraq.

"The Iraqi government is not running away from its responsibilities. It's just a question of time," Zebari said. "You need to dislodge them by force. Iraqi security forces are battling the terrorists in the streets of Baghdad and many other key cities and are over-stretched." Zebari said Iraq could take steps to cut off supplies and create checkpoints to limit access for the rebels in the north. He also recommended three-party talks between Iraq, Turkey and the United States.

But Turkey said its patience has run out in the face of escalating attacks by Kurdish rebels. And Erdogan said he had told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki that Turkey does not want to be "deceived with promises."

A senior rebel commander, Murat Karayilan, yesterday said that his fighters could target oil pipelines inside Turkey if Turkish forces move across the border to hit Kurdish rebel camps. Turkey says there are 3,800 rebels holed up in Iraqi mountains.