"For the moment our security forces continue their operations within the limits of our borders... There was no form of cross-border operation," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters.

Air Force chief General Aydogan Babaoglu also dismissed the reports carried in the Turkish media Tuesday.

"Turkish air force planes have not engaged in any action across the border," the Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying during a visit to northern Cyprus. "There was no such thing. These reports are completely baseless."

A security official in the Kurdish-administered north of Iraq said Tuesday that Turkish warplanes had hit three villages near the border town of Zakho in pre-dawn raids.

The bombings targeted villages in the Batoufa and Darkar districts, known to be frequented by rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But Jamal Abdallah, a spokesman for the Kurdish regional government, denied that any air attacks had taken place.

"Yesterday evening Turkish planes dropped flares on border areas near Zakho. We do not know the reason why they dropped flares. There was no air strike or bombing. But an abandoned police outpost was shelled," Abdallah told AFP.

Turkey has massed an estimated 100,000 troops on the border as it threatens strikes against PKK bases in northern Iraq, where it says the rebels enjoy safe haven.

Pressure for Turkish military action against the PKK bases increased after October 21, when rebels ambushed a Turkish military unit near the Iraqi border, killing 12 troops, injuring 17 and capturing eight.

Last week, US President George W. Bush promised Turkey real-time intelligence to strike at the PKK after talks at the White House with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

More than 37,000 people have died since the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community, took up arms in 1984 for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.