In recent weeks, Turkey has massed tens of thousands of soldiers on its border with Iraq and repeatedly threatened to launch a cross-border operation to pursue Kurdish militants.

Last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Ankara had a plan in place for military incursions into northern Iraq to destroy Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases there.

An Iraqi court has issued a death sentence to the man who has been widely known as "Chemical Ali" for masterminding the mass slaughter of ethnic Kurds in the late 1980s.

Tensions are rising on Turkey's border with Iraq. The leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Mass'ud Barzani, said today that Turkish troops shelled an Iraqi border area on June 3. He said the shelling targeted Haji Umran, believed to be used by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to carry out attacks in Turkey.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called on Turkey not to send troops into northern Iraq to hunt down Kurdish rebels.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has warned Turkey against staging cross-border raids against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. Mr. Maliki said Saturday he will not allow Iraq's largely peaceful Kurdish region to become a battleground.

Aid workers in the United States are preparing for what would be the largest Iraqi influx to the U.S. after the Bush administration's decision to accept the first group of Iraqi refugees.

Fears are growing that Turkey may take unilateral military action in northern Iraq against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, whose fighters have been staging cross-border attacks.

Last week Turkey's top general called for military action against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. But Iraqi Kurdish officials say a political solution, not a military one, is what is needed to settle this decades-old issue. From the capital of northern Iraq's Kurdistan Region, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.

The European Union has urged Turkey to peacefully resolve its differences with Iraq, following a call by Turkey's top general for a military incursion into Iraq to pursue Turkish Kurd rebels.

Turkey's top general has called for military operations in northern Iraq against Kurdish rebels hiding there. But Yasar Buyukanit, the head of the Turkish military's General Staff, said a political decision was needed before any such cross-border operation could be made.

The Iraqi Kurdish leader has again warned Turkey not to interfere in northern Iraq, saying Iraqi Kurds would retaliate by interfering in Kurdish areas in Turkey if that happened. Massoud Barzani spoke Tuesday in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's largely autonomous northern Kurdish region.