BAGHDAD — Iraq, Turkey and the United States have signed an agreement to battle the Kurdish insurgency.

The three countries have agreed to form a panel that would propose ways to fight the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK. About 5,000 PKK members were said to be operating in northern Iraq.

"It will enact forceful measures to stop all activities undertaken by this organization inside Iraqi territory or in any region adjacent to the Turkish-Iraqi border," Dabbagh said.

The agreement was signed after more than a year of Turkish pressure on Iraq to respond to the PKK threat. Northern Iraq has been under the control of the Kurdish autonomous government. In 2007, Turkey and the United States began exchanging tactical intelligence on the PKK.

Officials said the agreement was enabled by Turkish cooperation with the Kurdish Regional Government. They said Ankara, with U.S. encouragement, has steadily increased trade and energy relations with the Kurdish zone.

"This has clearly helped pave the way for security cooperation," an official said.

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