"The Turkish army will take a bigger hit if they try to carry out any military operation outside of the Turkish border," Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) spokesman Ahmed Denis said.

"We have announced previously that if they started any military operations outside their border, they will face military confrontation," Denis added.

"We will not allow them to carry out any incursion inside Iraqi Kurdistan. If they carry out this incursion, they will not be able to get out."

Rebels killed at least 24 Turkish soldiers on Tuesday night in simultaneous attacks in southeast Turkey, after which Ankara hit back with cross-border air strikes on PKK bases while Turkish troops crossed into neighbouring Iraq.

The attacks by PKK rebels struck eight locations in Cukurca and Yuksekova in Hakkari province near the Iraqi border, local security sources said, in one of the army's deadliest days in its 27-year battle against Kurdish separatists.

"According to the latest confirmed information from Cukurca, the conflict region, 24 of our soldiers fell martyr and 18 of them were wounded," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in televised remarks.