About 3,000 demonstrators carrying Turkish flags crowded Kadikoy square in Istanbul after the opposition Republican People's Party called for a mass gathering.

"Martyrs are eternal, the nation is indivisible," they chanted, along with, "Tayyip, send your son to the army," a reference to the prime minister's son who was exempted from the draft for health reasons.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper also voiced the frustration of many in Turkey on Monday with the headline, "Enough is enough", while the front page of Yeni Safak read "We are all conscripts".

Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee in Ankara said that the public demands for action would make it difficult for Turkey's government to accept a ceasefire offer from the PKK without appearing weak. 

Turkey avoided ordering an immediate cross-border operation at an emergency meeting attended by Turkey's cabinet and military leaders on Sunday, but it ended with a statement saying that Turkey would do everything to protect itself.

'Speedy steps'

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, said late on Sunday that he had told Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, during a telephone conversation that he expected "speedy steps from the US" to bring the PKK under control.

He said Rice had expressed her sympathy over the attack and asked Erdogan not to take any action "for a few days".

Thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding action after the PKK attack [AFP]

Iraq has urged restraint from Ankara and al-Maliki described the PKK raid as a "terrorist operation."

Iraqi ministers told a special session of parliament, however, that no troops could be spared to pursue the PKK, but vowed to cut supplies to the fighters in an attempt to ward off the threat of an incursion.

Abdel Qader al-Obeidi, the defence minister, appeared to suggest that the US military should take action, saying that security in Iraq was the responsibility of the US-led coalition.

In the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, hundreds of mostly Kurdish demonstrators holding banners in Arabic, Kurdish and English gathered shouting "No, No Turkey! No, No  to aggression!".

Residents of the main Kurdish cities of Irbil and Sulaiymaniah have said they fear the economic cost of any Turkish military action and some have started stockpiling food.