The air raids on Wednesday and Thursday targeted hideouts of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Khakurk region of the Kurdish-held autonomous north of Iraq, General Metin Gurak told reporters in Ankara.

He made no mention of PKK losses but stressed that measures were taken to prevent harming the civilian population in the region.

PKK spokesman Ahmed Danis confirmed the bombing.

"There were reconnaissance airplanes over the Kurdish areas followed by Turkish bombings in the Al-Zab area," he said, speaking from the Qandil mountains near the borders of Iraq, Turkey and Iran.

He also said Iran had bombed several other border areas.

"Iran bombed Khenira, Sarudi and Dezza Castle, but these areas have been depopulated for a long time. There were no casualties," he said.

The Turkish army has been targeting the PKK in Iraq -- with the help of intelligence from NATO ally the United States -- under a parliamentary authorisation for cross-border military action, which was first approved in 2007 and renewed for another year in October.

Ankara says about 2,000 PKK rebels are holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq, from where they launch attacks on Turkish territory as part of a 24-year separatist campaign.

In November, Iraq, Turkey and the United States agreed to form a joint committee to track the threat posed by the PKK and enact measures to stop the militants' activities.

Last month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said during a visit to Turkey that the three countries would set up a joint centre in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil to outline steps against the rebels.

Turkey has often accused the Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even aiding the PKK.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 44,000 lives.

burs-han/ag