Citing unnamed senior US military officials, the newspaper reported on Sunday that US President Barack Obama’s administration had not yet made a decision on the request.  According to the newspaper, the US military has flown unarmed surveillance Predators above northern Iraq since 2007 and has shared images with Turkey as part of “a secretive joint crackdown” on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels.

It said previously undisclosed diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks showed Turkey had become “highly dependent” on the Predators and other spy aircraft in its fight against the PKK. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has fought for Kurdish self-rule for more than 27 years in a conflict that has killed 40,000 people.

All US troops are due to leave Iraq at the end of 2011 meaning the Predator drones would also need to be based outside Iraq from Jan. 1 2012, the paper said.

The United States and Iraq have started formal negotiations on whether to keep US troops in Iraq under a training mission are due to leave Iraq at the end of 2011.

Asked whether Turkey had made such a request, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said the government never commented on matters related to intelligence or on WikiLeaks. “Turkey is in total cooperation with every country and party to defeat this terrorist problem,” the official said.

Meanwhile, five people, including three civilians were killed, after Kurdish rebels attacked local police buildings in southeastern Turkey, security sources said on Monday.

Two of the dead were a soldier and a policeman, said the sources, adding that 10 soldiers and policemen were also wounded during the raids in the Semdinli district of Hakkari, in southeastern Anatolia, on Sunday night.

Four simultaneous attacks were carried out in the area by the PKK, reported Anatolia news agency.

Hakkari Gov. Muammer Turker told Anatolia that the clashes were over and an operation “has begun to capture the terrorists.” The governor also said two PKK members were killed in the clashes, according to Anatolia.

The operation is being backed up by the airforce, according to private NTV television.