He said that the Turkish government was “in communication with” the United States and the Iraqi government, and that Turkey was grateful for “the strong, cooperative attitude of the Iraqi administration” and for “intelligence support and cooperation” from the United States.
Turkish television showed troops slogging through heavy snow in the rugged Kurdistan mountains. Casualty figures from Turkish sources and sources for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., have varied widely. Turkey has reported killing more than 150 rebels, while confirming the deaths of 19 Turkish soldiers. The P.K.K. contends it has lost only a handful of fighters, while killing 81 Turkish soldiers.
The P.K.K. demands autonomy for Kurds in southern Turkey and has been attacking Turkish soil from Kurdish bases in Turkey and northern Iraq since 1984. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.
In an interview on Tuesday, a P.K.K. spokesman expressed confidence that the rebels had the backing of the Kurdish regional government, which has repeatedly demanded the removal of Turkish troops. But the spokesman, Ahmad Danes, said the rebel group felt betrayed by the United States, which has said Turkey warned it of the raid. He said the Kurdish rebels kept the mountainous north of Iraq free of insurgent terrorists.
“The U.S.A. must not stand against Kurdish rights,” he said.
In other violence in the north, an explosion on a crowded bus traveling to the Syrian border from Mosul killed at least nine passengers on Tuesday morning, Iraqi officials said.
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The source of the attack was unclear. Military officials said a passenger detonated a suicide vest on the bus, but bus company employees attributed the explosion to a roadside bomb.
The attack occurred about 500 yards from an Iraqi Army checkpoint in Tmerat, 50 miles west of Mosul, where scores of recruits routinely gather at an Iraqi Army base, said a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The bomber was probably trying to attack them, he said, and the bomb may have exploded prematurely.
United States military pressure — with the alignment of some Sunni tribes against the insurgency and a cease-fire by Shiite militias in southern and central Iraq — has pushed the remaining insurgents north to Mosul, United States and Iraqi officials say.
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The city has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent months, and the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, promised a “decisive” battle with insurgents there after dozens of people were killed and more than 200 wounded in an explosion a month ago when Iraqi soldiers entered a booby-trapped building.
In other violence, a Mosul policeman was killed and two others wounded by a car bomb, Iraqi police sources said.
In Kirkuk, the district police said two Awakening Council members had been killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen. The police also confirmed that a roadside bomb had killed two civilians. And an Iraqi security forces source said an Iraqi Army major had been killed in clashes with elements of Al Qaeda.
In Tuz Khurmato, Lt. Col. Abdullah al-Bayati said attackers killed one soldier and kidnapped one of his relatives.
The American military issued a statement confirming that it had killed seven insurgents in a clash near Khan Bani Sa’ad in Diyala Province.
Also, the Iraqi Ministry of Information said gunmen had robbed a Health Ministry building in Al Waziriya in north Baghdad, taking six million Iraqi dinars, about $5,000.
El gobierno Iraquí ha exigido el retiro inmediato de las tropas Turcas, anunciando que la incursión que completa cinco días está rompiendo sus relaciones amistosas.

Por su parte, el concejo de ministros iraquí dijo que las fuerzas militares turcas están violando la soberanía iraquí al conducir una incursión a las regiones kurdas del norte de Iraq.

Ali al-Dabbagh, el vocero del gobierno iraquí, informó que el gobierno rechaza las incursiones unilaterales turcas porque constituyen una ruptura a las buenas relaciones de países vecinos.

Las fuerzas militares turcas ingresaron a Iraq para detener a los rebeldes kurdos militantes del Partido de los Trabajadores de Kurdistán. Los rebeldes quieren la autonomía de los kurdos en Turquía y tienen bases dentro de Iraq para responder a ataques de fuerzas turcas.

Al-Dabbagh conoce la incursión realizada por Turquía y dijo que el gobierno está listo para dialogar.

Cerca del 20 por ciento de los ciudadanos turcos son kurdos y en el sureste, en la frontera con Iraq, representan una mayoría. Sin embargo, los kurdos en Turquía dicen que su cultura e idioma están bajo opresión.

Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, presidente del parlamento iraquí, dijo que han solicitado a Turquía la solución pacífica de la situación. También dijo que los turcos deberían efectuar un referedo en el sur de Turquía para dar a los kurdos los derechos que están reclamando.

El Parlamento Chiita de Iraq ha propuesto el rechazo de la operación militar turca y dio un llamado de apoyo para su retiro inmediato.

No obstante, un atentado suicida detonado en un bus cerca de la ciudad de Mosul, mató al menos a nueve personas y dejó varios heridos.

Mientras tanto, millones de Chiitas en Iraq conmemoraron el Arbaeen en la ciudad de Karbala, una celebración religiosa que tiene lugar cuarenta días antes del Ashura.

La televisión iraquí mostró a cientos de Chiitas en procesiones, tocando tambores y golpeandose a si mismos en sus rituales religiosos.

Mas de 60 peregrinos Chiitas fueron asesinados mientras iban a Karbala durante esta semana, muchos de ellos por una bomba suicida ocurrida el pasado domingo.