(Ebru News/AP) British Foreign Minister David Miliband joined US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in Washington DC to urge Iraq and Turkiye to work together to deal with PKK, which has waged war against the Turkiye from bases inside northern Iraq. Rice and other US officials implored Turkish and Iraqi leaders to work together to counter the threat from PKK terrorists as Turkish troops headed toward the border and tensions soared.

Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State said
"The United States is determined to work with our allies in Iraq and to work with our allies in Turkey to try and deal with what is a very difficult situation of terrorism from a fairly remote part of northern Iraq, and it requires information sharing. It requires a great deal of coordination, but I'm quite certain that we can sit down, and we can work this together if there is enough political will."

Rice said "It is the policy of the United States that Iraq should not be a place where the territory can be used as any kind of sanctuary for terrorist activity.

Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State said
"We have talked about a range of issues including our common desire to see the situation in Northern Iraq resolved in a peaceful manner, and we've talked about our common desire to see an end to the terrorism that the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) has been perpetrating against Turkey.

US President George Bush earlier spoke by phone to Turkish President Abdullah Gul and by secure video conference to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to urge the two governments to work together to deal with the PKK after a weekend ambush by terrorists that killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers and left eight missing.