Gates urged Turkey to obtain precise information on the location of the separatist rebels before launching any military incursion into northern Iraq.

"The key is to develop intelligence to enable us to find these people... that has to precede any action by anybody," he told reporters after meeting here with Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul.

"Lacking specific targets is likely to lead to a lot of collateral damage... restraint should not be confused with weakness," he said, adding that military action "would be contrary to Turkey's interests but also to US interests and Iraq."

For his part, Gonul said that Turkey has plans to make a cross-border incursion to attack Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq but "not urgently."

He also told reporters after the talks with Gates that there were "no hostages" being held by the separatists of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

On Sunday the PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and other nations including the United States, claimed to have captured a group of Turkish soldiers in the volatile region on the Turkey-Iraq border following heavy clashes between the two sides.

Turkey is leaning toward invading northern Iraq to strike at hostile Kurdish rebels based there -- a move vehemently opposed by Washington, which is fighting an uphill battle to stabilise the country.

On Sunday Ankara pledged strong action against the rebels after an ambush on Turkish soldiers in the Kurdish-dominated southeast sparked fighting in which 12 soldiers and 32 rebels were killed.

The Turkish parliament Wednesday authorised military operations in northern Iraq for a one-year period to hit bases of the PKK, which uses the region as a springboard for attacks in Turkey.

Ankara says the PKK enjoys free movement in northern Iraq and even support from the Iraqi Kurds who govern the region.

The talks between the US and Turkish defence chiefs came after a US congressional committee exacerbated the already strained US-Turkish ties through a motion to brand as genocide the wartime massacre of Armenians by the erstwhile Ottoman empire.

Turkish criticism of Washington, already under fire for not cooperating against the PKK, has increased after it emerged that US weapons given to Iraq have ended up in PKK hands.

Gates's meeting with Gonul was part of a series of high-stakes meetings he will hold in Europe on a slew of key issues, including Washington's planned anti-missile installations in eastern Europe.

Gates will meet Ukraine's Western-leaning President Viktor Yushchenko on Monday and seek his backing for the missile shield plans in the face of fierce opposition from neighbouring Russia, a US official said.

Yushchenko, who has struggled with challenges from political rivals more sympathetic to Moscow, has ruled out hosting any US missile shield facility in Ukraine but has not condemned the plan.

On Tuesday Gates visits the Czech Republic, where the United States aims to install a radar station as part of the shield against possible missile attacks from countries such as Iran and North Korea.

"We hope to conclude negotiations with the Czech Republic before the end of the year," a Pentagon official said.

Most Czechs oppose the plan for a radar on their soil, part of a system that would also include 10 interceptor missiles in Poland.

Also in Kiev, Gates will sit down with his counterparts from European countries aspiring to join the NATO military bloc, including Croatia, Macedonia and Albania, as well as Ukraine.

On Wednesday and Thursday Gates will be in the Netherlands for an informal meeting of NATO defence ministers, where he is expected to ask member countries to send more troops to the international force in Afghanistan.

His tour wraps up Friday with a visit to Heidelberg, Germany, where the US Army has its European headquarters.

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