Artillery pounded a group of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in the Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq on Thursday to stop them from infiltrating Turkish territory, the general staff said in a statement on its Internet site.

"It has been understood that 15 terrorists were killed in the artillery fire," it said.

Warplanes bombed rebel targets in the same region on Friday "with full accuracy", the statement said, adding that it was not yet clear how many PKK rebels were killed in the air strike.

The general staff said it would continue to closely monitor PKK movements in the autonomous Kurdish-run north of Iraq and take action to eliminate threats against Turkey at the place and time of their origin.

Aided by real-time intelligence from the United States, Turkey has carried out several air strikes in northern Iraq since December 16 as well as a week-long ground incursion last month targeting a major PKK base in the Zap area.

At the time, Baghdad condemned the offensive as a violation of its sovereignty and Washington, concerned that Turkish military action could affect the only relatively stable part of war-torn Iraq, called for a swift withdrawal.

Earlier this month, Turkey's army chief Yasar Buyukanit said the military would launch further strikes on Kurdish rebels if need be.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has been fighting for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

The Turkish army says more than 2,000 PKK rebels are holed up in camps in the mountains of northern Iraq, where they are tolerated by the local Kurdish administration.

Ankara charges that the rebels enjoy freedom of movement and are able to obtain weapons and ammunition for cross-border attacks on Turkish territory.

Turkey is under pressure from the United States and at home to back up military measures against the PKK with economic and political gestures to the sizeable Kurdish community to erode popular support for separatism.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this month that the government was planning to launch a Kurdish-language channel on state television and invest up to 15 billion dollars (9.5 billion euros) in infrastructure projects in the impoverished southeast.