"American forces will be in control of Kirkuk," Fleischer told reporters after Ankara again warned that any bid by the Kurds to retain permanent control of Kirkuk and Mosul, northern Iraq's other major city, would be unacceptable.

Asked whether US Secretary of State Colin Powell had given Turkey the green light to send a small number of military observers across the border, Fleischer replied: "Correct."

"We have always said that any action should be coordinated and that's the definition of coordination," he said.

Washington had long warned Turkey against sending any forces into Iraq, its southern neighbor, as US and British forces numbering some 300,000 pushed ever deeper in their campaign to disarm and topple Saddam Hussein.

Ankara has threatened to send troops to the region if Kurds -- who entered Kirkuk earlier Thursday amid a popular uprising -- were allowed to take control of the city and northern Iraq's other major population center, Mosul.

"We've been in contact with officials in Turkey as well as free Iraqis in the North and I think it is fair to say that American forces will be in control of Kirkuk," said Fleischer.

Asked whether that meant Washington would prevent the Kurdish fighters from settling in Kirkuk, he replied: "I have said what I did on purpose. We've been in contact with Turkish officials, we understand their concerns and American forces will be in charge of Kirkuk."

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