General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will discuss "the ongoing struggle" against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) with Turkish counterparts, an embassy spokeswoman said.

Cartwright, Turkish General Ergin Saygun and US General David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, are coordinating measures against the rebel group.

Washington has been supplying its NATO ally Turkey with intelligence on PKK movements in northern Iraq, where the group has taken refuge.

The Turkish army has, since December 16, conducted five air raids on PKK targets in northern Iraq and a cross-border land operation to stop a group of militants from infiltrating Turkey.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and Washington, has waged a bloody campaign for self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Ankara says an estimated 4,000 PKK militants take refuge in camps in the mountains of northern Iraq, which they use as a springboard for attacks inside Turkey.