U.S. says Turkish land incursion in Iraq bad news

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official said on Friday that a Turkish land incursion into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish separatist guerrillas was "not the greatest news".

"A land operation is a whole new level," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza told reporters in Brussels, responding to media reports of a ground assault on suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

He said Washington had been cooperating fully with Turkey in providing intelligence on PKK positions in northern Iraq since last November to enable the Turkish air force to make pinpointed attacks minimizing civilian casualties.

(Reporting by Paul Taylor, editing by Dale Hudson)