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US unable to confirm Turkish bombing

US military officials in Iraq said on Monday that they had no operational reports that Turkey bombed northern Iraq on Sunday, contrary to Kurdish claims of Turkish airstrikes that day.

The officials said that while Turkey did not seek US consent for its raids on separatist Kurdish rebels, there was an understanding that it would notify the US embassy in Ankara before attacking. And in this case, that did not happen.

"We do get advance warning," a US military official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "We do not think that there was any operation on Sunday."

The comments underscored the challenge of determining exactly what occurs in the remote mountainous region where Turkey has focused its recent attacks on the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, in an attempt to stop it from carrying out cross-border attacks into Turkish territory.

The Kurdish government has kept reporters from the area and conflicting accounts about attacks are common, with some Kurds seeking to portray the region as a victim of foreign aggression, while Turkish leaders try to satisfy domestic political pressure to hit the rebels hard.

The US, which has labeled the PKK a terrorist organization, has increased its level of contact in recent weeks with Kurdish and Turkish officials.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said US President George W. Bush spoke on Monday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan about "their common efforts to fight terrorism, and the importance of the United States, Turkey and Iraq working together to confront the PKK."
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