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BAGHDAD, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Turkey's military has only sent several hundred troops into a remote part of northern Iraq to hunt rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Friday.

"There has not been any major incursion or land invasion through the border. What is going on is around a few hundred Turkish forces have crossed the border looking for the PKK or their bases," Zebari told Reuters by telephone.

In Ankara, a senior military source said thousands of Turkish troops had crossed in their hunt for the guerrillas. Turkish TV said 3,000 to 10,000 soldiers had entered Iraq.

Zebari said he had summoned the charge d'affaires from the Turkish embassy in Baghdad to protest the incursion.

He said Turkish troops had crossed no further than 5 km (3 miles) inside the border.

"But this area is very isolated. It's not inhabited," Zebari said.

A senior Kurdish official also said the incursion was limited to what he called a remote area.

"Several hundred, possibly a battalion of Turkish special forces, went in to pursue (rebels) in what they think is a PKK area," the official told Reuters. (Reporting by Mariam Karouny in Baghdad, Editing by Dean Yates)

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