ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s Foreign Ministry and military General Staff on Wednesday denied a Web site report that 50,000 Turkish troops had crossed into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels hiding there.

“This report is not true,” a Foreign Ministry source told Reuters.

A General Staff official described the report as “disinformation”.

The report, carried on the DEBKAfile Web site, sparked jitters among foreign investors who fear Turkish military action in northern Iraq could harm Turkey’s booming economy and relations with the United States.