ANKARA, March 29: At least 15 Kurdish rebels were killed in two days of bombardment by Turkish artillery and warplanes this week in neighbouring northern Iraq, the Turkish army said on Saturday.

Artillery pounded a group of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels in the Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq on Thursday to stop them from infiltrating Turkish territory, the general staff said in a statement on its Internet site.

“It has been understood that 15 terrorists were killed in the artillery fire,” it said.

Warplanes bombed rebel targets in the same region on Friday “with full accuracy”, the statement said, adding that it was not yet clear how many PKK rebels were killed in the air strike.

The general staff said it would continue to closely monitor PKK movements in the Kurdish-run north of Iraq and take action to eliminate threats against Turkey at the place and time of their origin.

Aided by real-time intelligence from the United States, Turkey has carried out several air strikes in northern Iraq since December 16 as well as a week-long ground incursion last month targeting a major PKK base in the Zap area.

Baghdad condemned the offensive as a violation of its sovereignty and Washington, concerned that Turkish military action could affect the only relatively stable part of war-torn Iraq, called for a swift withdrawal.

Earlier this month, Turkey’s army chief Yasar Buyukanit said the military would launch further strikes on Kurdish rebels if need be.

The PKK has been fighting for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

The Turkish army says more than 2,000 PKK rebels are holed up in camps in the mountains of northern Iraq, where they are tolerated by the local Kurdish administration.

Ankara charges that the rebels enjoy freedom of movement and are able to obtain weapons and ammunition for cross-border attacks on Turkish territory.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this month that the government was planning to launch a Kurdish-language channel on state television and invest up to $15 billion in infrastructure projects in the impoverished southeast.—AFP