"A total of 49 terrorists were rendered ineffective over the last two days," said the General Staff in a statement posted on its website.

The operation was carried out in the southeastern Hakkari province.

Kurdish rebels last Wednesday killed 24 soldiers and wounded 18 along the Iraqi border, the army's biggest losses since 1993.

The simultaneous attacks prompted the Turkish military to launch air and land operations against members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Some 10,000 troops on the ground are involved in Turkey's operations, backed by jets and helicopters, inside Turkey and across the border. Military officials did not say how many troops had entered Iraq.

The army statement said "operations continue in a few areas across the border (northern Iraq) and two seperate areas inside the country" in an attempt to prevent PKK actions targeting Turkish units.

In an earlier announcement, the Turkish military said the operations were mainly concentrated inside the country.

The military activity continued on both sides of the border, said an AFP photographer in the southeastern town of Cizre, less than 40 miles (70 kilometres) from the Iraqi frontier.

Local residents saw a convoy of 43 military trucks returning from the north of Iraq where PKK members are holed up, he added.

Turkey is seeking support from its neighbours and Europe for its military campaign.

"The PKK is not only Turkey's enemy but also Europe's," Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency on Saturday.

"The security of Paris, Brussels, London begins from Sirnak, Hakkari" provinces in Turkey's southeast, said Bagis.

"We must fight against terrorism all together."

The attacks by Kurdish rebels have also mobilised Turkey's civil society.

Representatives of non-governmental organisations, business associations and professional chambers across Turkey are readying to meet with the president, prime minister and opposition party leaders, Turkish media reported.

Others in the southeast are expected to go to the Qandil mountains in an attempt to convince the PKK to lay down arms, it added.

Earlier, the military said the operations were mainly concentrated in the southeast but it did not specify how many troops had entered Iraq.

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

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

Turkey's last ground incursion into northern Iraq, an autonomous Kurdish region, was in February 2008, when the army struck against the Zap region.