DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkey's military and civilian leaders signaled growing frustration with the United States and Iraq Tuesday over their role in the fight against PKK militants after a new attack on a Turkish base killed 15.

More than 80 Turkish soldiers have been killed in fighting so far this year, exceeding the death toll in 2009, most of them after Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) separatist guerrillas ended a 14-month ceasefire at the start of June.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government, under pressure to contain escalating violence that threatens to hurt its popularity in a general vote set by July 2011, has repeatedly called for greater support from Iraq and the U.S. to combat the PKK, which has bases in northern Iraq.
In the latest fighting, PKK militants attacked an army outpost in southeast Turkey overnight, triggering a clash in which 12 militants and three soldiers were killed, security sources said.
“These terror camps within the borders of Iraq, in northern Iraq, are unacceptable. We have demanded this from Iraq and the United States. The time for words is over. It is time for action now,” Interior Minister Besir Atalay told a news conference.
Striking a similar note, the head of the Turkish armed forces warned that the PKK presence in Iraq could harm ties with its neighbor and with the United States if action is not taken to curb the militants' activities in northern Iraq.
“The time has come and is passing for those responsible -- the people, institutions, states and formations in northern Iraq -- to do what is right,” General Ilker Basbug was reported as saying in an interview with Star TV.
“The presence of the PKK in northern Iraq will have a negative impact on Turkish-Iraqi relations in the coming period. In a sense, it will negatively affect Turkish-U.S. relations.”
Washington provides intelligence on PKK movements to Ankara.
The increased violence has undermined an attempt by Erdogan's government to boost Kurdish minority rights and end a 26-year separatist conflict.
Military helicopters flew in troop reinforcements to search for the remaining rebels who launched the overnight attack in Semdinli district of Hakkari province, near the Iraqi border.
Three soldiers were also wounded in the fighting.
The army operation was focused on the area around the Iraqi border, across which the militants cross from bases in northern Iraq to attack the Turkish military.
In a separate clash, one rebel was killed and six soldiers wounded Monday evening after rebels opened fire on security forces at a military outpost in the eastern province of Elazig.
The military has carried out air strikes on PKK targets in northern Iraq. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Basbug said there were some 4,000 PKK fighters in the mountains of southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, compared with as many as 10,000 in the past and an average of some 6,000.
Turkish intelligence is setting up a unit to capture three leaders of the group based in northern Iraq; Murat Karayilan, Fehman Huseyin and Cemil Bayik, Sabah newspaper reported.
Turkish special forces captured the PKK's leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 after forcing him to abandon his refuge in Syria.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict which began in 1984 when the PKK took up arms against the state with the aim of creating a separate Kurdish homeland.
Photo: Turkey's Interior Minister Besir Atalay
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