Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said civilians had suffered in the bombings, despite Turkey's insistence that only Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases had been targeted.

"We understand Turkish concerns over the presence of PKK, but yesterday there was some collateral damages to civilians. ... such action must be coordinated with the Iraqi government," said Zebari, who did not give casualty figures.

Local officials said Sunday morning's bombardment had killed a woman and seriously wounded five other civilians as well as destroying schools and bridges in the foothills of the Qandil mountains.

"We all were asleep when the warplanes struck our village," said Hassan Ibrahim, 75, a farmer from the village of Qalatuqa along the Iraq-Turkey border.

"When the attack came I got out of the house. We were all suffocating because of the dust."

He said Turkish warplanes had been overflying the region for the past month.

"Earlier it was Saddam who destroyed our homes, now it is the Turks," an angry Ibrahim told AFP as he prepared to leave his home.

Turkish warplanes hit several villages along the border with Iraq as part of its military operation to target PKK rebel hideouts.

Witnesses said the bombings had razed dozens of buildings in Qalatuqa, including a soon-to-be-opened school building.

"I was shocked when I saw the school. It was completely razed to the ground," said Mahmud Mohammed, a building contractor.

"I had started building the school in 2004 and it was almost complete. We were soon going to inagurate it and now it is totally destroyed."

Asaka Abdullah, 40, said she woke up shocked with the noise of the bombings.

"I was asleep when the sound of the explosion woke me up. When I stepped out of my house I saw people fleeing barefoot," she said.

"We really have no choice but to flee to the mountains to escape the bombs."

The BBC, meanwhile, said on its news website that the US denied reports that Washington had approved the Turkish strikes.

On Sunday, Ankara's most senior general Yasar Buyukanit said the US gave its tacit consent for the operation by providing "intelligence" and opening up northern Iraqi airspace.

The BBC report quoted a US embassy official as saying US commanders had not approved the attacks, but had been informed before they took place.

The PKK is fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984.

More than 37,000 people have died on both the sides since the conflict broke out.