Google News - BAGHDAD -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Iraq Tuesday on an unannounced visit, the latest in a string of high-profile attempts at reigniting the country's stalled reconciliation process after a sharp downturn in violence.

Rice landed hours after Turkey sent several hundred troops into Kurdish territory in northern Iraq, according to Jabar Yawar, the deputy regional minister responsible for its Peshmerga security forces.

He said the troops crossed about 1½ miles into Iraqi territory, in an area near the Iranian border, where rebels from the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, are said to have bases. There were no immediate reports of clashes.

Turkey maintains the right to pursue rebels who have used Kurdish territory in Iraq as a staging base to launch attacks on its territory in a campaign for autonomy in southeastern Turkey. On Sunday, Turkish war jets bombed several villages in northern Iraq, killing at least one Iraqi civilian and injuring several others.

Yesterday, Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, told reporters that Turkey's ambassador had been summoned and formally notified that any such action needed to be coordinated between the two governments. He expressed hope at the time that the situation would be contained and would not be repeated.

Turkey said Sunday's attack used U.S. intelligence, suggesting at least tacit American approval. But U.S. officials have made clear that they oppose any large-scale incursions that could destabilize one of the calmest regions in Iraq.

Rice's first stop was Kirkuk, an oil rich city about 150 miles north of Baghdad that is a flashpoint for Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

Kurds want to incorporate the city into their largely autonomous region in the north, but the idea has met resistance from the city's Sunni Arabs and the smaller Turkmen population. A referendum on the issue was delayed until next year.

Sunni Arabs ended a yearlong boycott of the provincial council earlier this month in exchange for government posts, a development Rice was expected to highlight on her visit. Turkmen are still refusing to participate in the council.

Rice was meeting provincial politicians and members of a U.S. reconstruction team based in Kirkuk, before continuing to Baghdad to meet with the national leadership, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said.

U.S. officials have touted a 60 percent drop in attacks since June, when the military completed a buildup of 28,500 additional troops.

But concern is mounting over the failure of Iraqi politicians to reach agreement on key power-sharing legislation aimed at easing tensions between Iraq's main ethnic and sectarian groups. They include laws that would ease employment restrictions on former members of Saddam Hussein's regime and provide an equitable distribution of Iraq's oil wealth.