A senior Turkish military officer, General Bekir Kalyoncu, said Tuesday that Ankara reserved the right to venture into Iraqi territory to pursue separatist Kurdish rebels based there.

"We would call upon all of Iraq's neighbors to respect Iraq's sovereignty," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Turkey in late April to refrain from unilateral action against Iraq-based separatist Kurdish rebels, calling instead for renewed trilateral cooperation to fight the threat.

Turkey has deployed thousands to troops along its border with Iraq in what officials describe as a large-scale bid to prevent infiltrations by rebels from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), based in mountainous hideouts in northern Iraq.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Kurd officials have claimed that Iranian forces shelled Kurdish rebel positions for a second day on Monday, but Iran has refused to confirm or deny the shelling reports and claims that Iranian troops had entered Iraq.

McCormack also called on Iraq's neighbors "to work with the government of Iraq on any issues that they may have regarding borders and that anything that is done is done in a transparent manner and through mutual agreement".

The Turkish general said:"If the conditions (for a cross-border operation) arise, Turkey will use its rights as any sovereign country."

The Turkish army says Article 51 of the UN Charter provides for the right of "hot pursuit" against the PKK -- blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union -- on Iraqi territory.

The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed over 37,000 lives since the PKK launched its separatist campaign in 1984.