(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-26 20:55

HABUR, Turkey - Turkish helicopters ferried more troops to the border with Iraq on Friday as diplomatic efforts got under way in Ankara to avert a major offensive against Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq.

Kurdish village guards patrol in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak October 26, 2007.  [Agencies]

State-run Anatolian news agency said Cobra helicopters and fighter jets had also pounded PKK shelters discovered after reconnaissance missions along the border and inside Turkey, which has NATO's second biggest army.

Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops along the mountainous border before a possible cross-border operation to crush about 3,000 guerrillas of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who launch deadly attacks into Turkey from northern Iraq.

Iraqi, Turkish and US diplomats have stepped up efforts to avert a large-scale Turkish incursion but Turkey's prime minister and president have repeatedly said their country would not tolerate any more PKK attacks from Iraq.

"We are moving more troops from other provinces to Sirnak province," a military source, who declined to be named, told Reuters in southeast Turkey. Turkey's military has boosted troop levels mainly in Hakkari and Sirnak provinces bordering Iraq.

Security sources told Reuters 10 Sikorsky helicopters, carrying troops and military equipment, took off from Yusekova town in Hakkari province and headed for Daglica region near the Iraq border.

An Iraqi delegation began talks with Turkish civilian and military officials on Friday in Ankara.

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