Baghdad - Iraq and Turkey agreed on Wednesday to set up a joint committee to combat Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, Iraqi officials said.

Turkey has launched raids this year inside Iraqi territory to attack the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which it calls a terrorist organization.

Turkey and Iraq would take "strong measures" to stop the PKK, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabagh said in a press statement, without giving details.

A US delegation also attended the meeting, according to the statement. The US has expressed concern that Turkish raids inside Iraq could further destabilize the country.

Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay will chair the committee that would include Iraq's security affairs minister and the interior minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, according to the statement. (dpa)