Air force jets kept up their bombing raids overnight in response to the attacks, which were the worst loss of life for the army since 1993, local security sources said Thursday.

Military activity at the air base in mainly Kurdish Diyarbakir province was very intensive throughout the night with F-16 jets taking off to target the hideouts of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), they said.

According to press reports, between 200 and 250 Kurdish rebels entrenched in the mountains of northern Iraq crossed into Turkey late Tuesday to carry out the raids on military posts, which left 24 dead and 18 wounded.

Turkish aircraft immediately responded to the attacks. Commandos were dispatched in pursuit of the assailants and special units were sent by helicopter a few kilometres inside Iraqi territory.

A military ceremony was held Thursday morning in Van, a city in eastern Turkey which is 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Wednesday's combat zone.

The coffins, draped with the red and white flag of Turkey, were loaded into military aircraft to be taken to their hometowns for burial.

Spontaneous demonstrations were held Wednesday across Turkey. A group of taxi drivers in Istanbul closed the road to traffic in protest at the attacks. Music concerts were also cancelled.

President Abdullah Gul, who recently made a morale-boosting visit to border troops, vowed Turkey's revenge for the attacks would be bitter.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to fight against the PKK but said the bloody offensive would not change his government's determination to solve the Kurdish conflict.

Turkey's parliament was due to discuss further measures in a closed doors session Thursday.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, called his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, Wednesday to offer his condolences, NTV television reported.

Davutoglu told Zebari, who visited Ankara last week, it was not the time for condemnation but for taking concrete steps to stop the PKK violence.

Ankara has repeatedly urged the Iraqi government not to allow its territory to be used as a springboard by the PKK for attacks on Turkey.

Last week, Zebari had said the problem could be resolved in a way that would not poison Turkish-Iraqi relations.

Clashes between the PKK and the army have escalated since the summer.

Five police and four civilians were killed in a landmine explosion in the southeast on Tuesday.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.