Iraq urges coordination with Turkey on PKK rebels

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday that Turkish, Iraqi and U.S. officials must act together to end threats from Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, a spokesman said.

"They discussed the security situation on (the two countries') common borders and the activities of the terrorist group PKK," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters.

The government of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is under pressure to respond to attacks launched by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels from their mountain camps in Kurdistan, close to the Turkish border.

Dabbagh said that Maliki, during a phone call initiated by Erdogan, called for an existing trilateral committee of Turkish, Iraqi and U.S. officials "to set mechanisms to end the danger imposed by the PKK on Turkey, Iraq and the region."

Earlier this month, PKK rebels killed 17 Turkish soldiers, an attack that has prompted repeated Turkish shelling and airstrikes of PKK targets within Iraq.

The PKK attacks have strained Iraq's relations with Turkey, which accuses its southern neighbor of failing to halt violence from the rebels.

Maliki met with a Turkish delegation in Baghdad on Tuesday and condemned the attacks.

The United States has about 145,000 troops in Iraq.

(Reporting by Mariam Karouny; writing by Missy Ryan; Editing by Jon Boyle)