The talks broke up after 90 minutes however and it was not immediately known if and when they would resume.

One day after Turkish leaders reaffirmed their determination to wipe out Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases across the border, Iraq's Defence Minister Abdel Qader Mohammed Jassim and National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waeli met Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Interior Minister Besir Atalay.

One Iraqi embassy official said the talks were originally scheduled to last three hours. After the meeting broke up, the Iraqis returned to their Ankara lodgings in a police guest house.

The Iraqis said they were awaiting word from their Turkish counterparts and Turkish officials were unavailable for comment.

The NTV news channel reported that Babacan was consulting with the military leadership and that Atalay had left to telephone Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was on a visit to Romania.

Tensions have risen since the Turkish parliament last week authorised the government to order military incursions against the bases of the PKK, which has been waging a bloody campaign for self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1974.

They peaked after the PKK ambushed a military patrol last Sunday killing 12 soldiers and capturing eight.

The Turkish army has since massed men and materiel along the border, and reported it had killed more than 60 Kurdish rebels in fighting since Sunday's ambush.

The Turks have long complained of what they call US and Iraqi inaction in dealing with the PKK in northern Iraq, where the rebels enjoy safe haven.

Washington and Baghdad have vowed to make good on promises to crack down on the PKK, but Turkish leaders, facing strong domestic pressure for rapid military action, have voiced mounting exasperation.

"We respect the territorial integrity and unity of Iraq, (but) we are running out of patience and we will not tolerate the use of Iraqi soil for terrorist activities," President Abdullah Gul said Thursday. "We are fully determined to take all necessary steps to end this threat."

"Our security forces are determined to move as soon as the situation allows," Erdogan warned Thursday, lashing out at US calls for restraint.

The Iraqi delegation here includes Iraq's intelligence chief and representatives of the two major Kurdish parties in northern Iraq, as well as a US military officer.

"We came with concrete steps, concrete proposals," the Anatolia news agency quoted Iraqi Defence Minister Jassim as saying after his arrival Thursday.

This appeared to be a response to the Turkish foreign minister who said this week that the Iraqi visit would be useless unless it contained such proposals.

Military operations had increased after Sunday's ambush.

The Turkish army said that tanks and heavy artillery had thwarted an attack Tuesday by "a large group" of PKK rebels against an army outpost on the border, with more than 30 rebels killed as they fled back to northern Iraq.

Although men and materiel continued to pour into the region, the situation appeared relatively calm.

On the outskirts of Cizre, near the border with Iraq, soldiers backed by armoured vehicles swept roads with metal detectors early in the morning, looking for mines laid by the PKK.

As a helicopter hovered overhead, small groups of soldiers were seen filing up a dirt track on the flank of a hill to sweep the rugged terrain where the rebels take refuge.