BAGHDAD, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Iraq wants Kurdish rebels based in its northern region of Kurdistan to stop using the area to launch attacks against neighbouring Turkey and Iran, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said.

Talabani, on a visit to the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya on Friday, said his comments did not mean Baghdad was threatening the rebels, who are holed up along northern and northeastern border areas.

"We ask them to ... put an end to armed struggle or at least stop their operations for one or two years against these countries to avoid foreign interference in the Kurdistan territory," Talabani said in a recording of his news conference seen on Saturday.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic Kurdish homeland in the country, home to up to 15 million Kurds.

Several thousand PKK fighters are believed to be based in mountains inside Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region near the Turkish border.

Other guerrillas of the PJAK, who seek autonomy for Kurdish areas in Iran, shelter in the northeastern border area. PJAK, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, is an Iranian offshoot of the PKK.

"If they do not accept this (to suspend operations), then let them go back to their countries and do such a thing there," said Talabani, a Kurd.

"So far this is a request. We have not decided to do anything against them."

Iraq's government in recent months has protested against shelling by Turkey and Iran of the border regions. Cross-border skirmishes also occasionally occur between the rebels and soldiers from Turkey and Iran.

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