11.   Consortium officials have expressed concern that a rebel presence could jeopardize their operations.

12.   Lebanon denies rebel presence on its territory.

13.   NTV said Turkey rebuffed that denial by handing over intelligence documents and aerial photographs showing a rebel presence in Iran.

14.   NTV said Turkey rebuffed that denial by handing over intelligence documents and aerial photographs showing a rebel presence in Iran and demanded that Tehran crackdown on the guerrillas.

15.   Officials recommend that people traveling through areas with a rebel presence notify authorities before leaving.

16.   Still, the rebel presence is by no means overwhelming.

17.   The shelling was reported in regions of eastern and southern Chechnya, where rebel presence remains strong.

18.   Turkish troops have gone into northern Iraq several times in the last few years, trying to wipe out the rebel presence.

19.   But Medina said that the difficulty in holding the vote would not be the rebel presence but the extreme poverty and isolation of the zone.

20.   Fears of attack are particularly strong in the north, where the rebel presence is greater.