Talks seek to ease Turkey-Iraq border tension

Istanbul: Turkey put more pressure on the United States to stop Kurdish rebel attacks from northern Iraq ahead of a conference on Saturday to lower cross-border tensions.

Tensions between Turkey and Iraq over rebel attacks have overshadowed the "neighbours' conference", which Turkey is hosting for Iraq and major powers.

"It is clearly unacceptable that Iraq's territory is used to mount cross border attacks," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told foreign ministers at the meeting.

He also urged Iraq's neighbours to do more to help stabilise Iraq, and said recent incidents on the Turkish-Iraqi border showed the need for close cooperation.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pressed Turkey to show restraint, promising more action from the United States against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Rice is due to hold talks with Turkish and Iraqi leaders to hammer out a strategy to fight what Rice says is a "common enemy".

The Iraqi government has promised cooperation but said that any security move "should come through a joint agreement between us and Turkey and within our capacity", said Iraqi government spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh.