The operation "ended just as it was planned. It all has to do with military planning," Gul told reporters here before departing on an official visit to Romania.

"Let me tell you in all sincerity that the Americans had no impact on it."

The Turkish military announced on Friday that it had ended a week-long incursion into northern Iraq to hunt Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels who have used the region as a base in their 23-year separatist campaign against Ankara.

The announcement, which came a day after US President George W. Bush urged a swift withdrawal and Defence Secretary Robert Gates put pressure on Turkish leaders in talks in Ankara, led to speculation that US pressure had accelerated the end of the incursion.

Gul said he was personally informed about the withdrawal but underlined that it was not announced to the public so as not to endanger the soldiers' safety.

"Publicly explaining the planning of military operations means putting the soldiers in danger," he said.

In a newspaper interview published Saturday, the head of the Turkish army also dismissed claims of US pressure, saying that troops had started returning on Wednesday after killing most of the PKK rebels targeted near a major base.

"This was a decision taken on military reasons altogether. There was not even a hint from politicians or foreigners to withdraw," General Yasar Buyukanit said.

The general staff on Sunday distributed new images of the operation, showing soldiers, armed with machine guns and assault rifles, walking on snow-covered mountains.

One of the pictures showed a soldier carrying an artillery shell on which it was written: "It is not over yet, more will come."

Turkish soldiers crossed into northern Iraq on February 21 for what officials described as a limited incursion against the PKK after two months of air strikes on rebel positions.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has been fighting for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Ankara charges that an estimated 4,000 PKK rebels have found refuge in northern Iraq.