Sedgefield, England ? President Bush labeled Turkey, shaken by deadly suicide bombings, a new front in the war on terror Friday and offered U.S. help in hunting down the perpetrators.

Two bombings Thursday in Istanbul and new rocket assaults Friday in Baghdad overshadowed the president’s tour of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s home turf in rural northeast England.

“Iraq’s a front, Turkey’s a front — anywhere where the terrorists think they can strike,” Bush said, standing with Blair outside a community college on the last day of Bush’s state visit to Britain, America’s chief ally in the war in Iraq.

But controversy over the Iraq war and its aftermath followed the two leaders during a day filled with leisurely activities. Several hundred protesters stood behind barriers on the village green alongside a 13th-century church, waving anti-war placards and chanting “Bush Out” and “Bush Go Home.”

Flying here aboard Air Force One, he called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer condolences for the Istanbul bombings of the British consulate and a London-based bank that killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 400.

Calling it a sad day, Bush said he offered the Turkish leader condolences and “told him that we will work with him to defeat terror and that the terrorists have decided to use Turkey as a front.”

Bush said the help would include intelligence sharing.

An aid package for Turkey has been discussed since at least September when the United States announced it had agreed to lend the country $8.5 billion to support its shaky economy.

President Bush walks with Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair as they tour the grounds around Blair's house in Sedgefield, England. Bush and Blair had tea at the prime minister's red brick, four-bedroom home, followed by a hearty pub lunch of fish and chips, as they toured the region that Blair has represented in Parliament for two decades.