Turkish warplanes bombed three Iraqi villages near the border town of Zakho in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Tuesday but caused no casualties, a security official said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has promised to take urgent measures against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, including shutting down their offices.

Truck and taxi drivers at the main crossing point of the border between Iraq and Turkey worry it could be closed soon, as the Turkish government threatens a military incursion into northern Iraq. The drivers say they would lose their jobs and that businesses would close on both sides of the border.

Turkish military planes have scoured the Iraqi border for Kurdish rebel camps, after diplomatic talks in Ankara to avert a major cross-border operation into northern Iraq failed.

Turkey is "losing patience" with Baghdad over Kurd separatists in northern Iraq, President Abdullah Gul said, ahead of talks with an Iraqi delegation seeking to avert a Turkish strike against the rebels.

The president of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq says the region will defend itself from any aggression, following Turkey's approval of cross-border incursions into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said he believed there was no chance of a large-scale Turkish military strike against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.

Iraq's Kurds have vowed to fight off any attack on their region, as pressure mounts on the Iraqi and US administrations to act against Kurdish rebels and stave off a threatened Turkish incursion.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan put forward two conditions on Friday that could prevent Ankara from launching a military strike against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.

Thousands of Kurds have rallied in northern Iraq to protest a Turkish parliament decision authorizing military incursions against Kurdish rebels in Iraq.

Iraq’s farmers said that they saw craters left after shelling near restive boundary with Turkey. Although Ankara has not confirmed any shelling of Iraqi territory, the Turkish military has said it was carrying out an operation to track down Kurdish rebels after a deadly attack that killed 13 Turkish soldiers Sunday in a clash in the country's southeast Turkish province of Sirnak.

The President of Iraq Jalal Talabani says he bcks a U.S. Senate resolution that calls for the decentralization of Iraq into autonomous regions for Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.