"The ministerial committee for national security headed by Prime Minister Maliki condemned the terrorist action carried out by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) which killed several Turkish soldiers," a statement from Nuri al-Maliki's office said.

Thirty-two Kurdish rebels and 12 Turkish soldiers were killed in heavy clashes in southeastern Turkey prompted by a rebel attack on the military patrol, the Turkish army said.

A Kurdish rebel leader said several Turkish soldiers were also captured by the rebels during the fighting, however this was denied by Turkey's Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul.

Iraq's security committee held a meeting on Sunday to discuss the latest incident along the border, which follows Turkey's threat to send troops inside Iraq to flush out the rebels.

"The committee discussed the incident and considers the activities of the PKK as terrorist activities," the statement said.