ANKARA (Reuters) -- Senior officials from Turkey, Iraq and the United States will meet in Ankara on Tuesday to discuss closer cooperation against Kurdish rebels who attack Turkey from bases in northern Iraq, a Turkish government official said.

Turkey and Iraq will be represented by their interior ministers, said the official, who requested anonymity. It was not clear who would head the U.S. delegation.

"It is going to be a meeting about intelligence sharing and the issue of the PKK will be taken up," said the official.

The three countries have stepped up efforts to fight separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organisation by Washington, the European Union and Turkey.

PKK rebels have been fighting for 25 years for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey. Their cross-border attacks have strained regional ties in the past, but this month the three countries agreed to set up a joint command centre in north Iraq and hold periodic meetings.

Turkey has bombed and shelled PKK areas in northern Iraq using intelligence provided by Washington.

Turkey's attacks are believed to have greatly weakened the Kurdish guerrillas, whose attacks on Turkey have dropped in recent months.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday the government was working on steps aimed at peacefully solving the Kurdish problem, a cause of decades of violence and poverty in southeast Turkey.

Analysts have forecast that Ankara will unveil reforms within a month to pre-empt a "road map" on the issue which PKK guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan is expected to announce on Aug 15.

Writing by Ibon Villelabeitia; editing by Tim Pearce.