A statement said the armed group was "rendered ineffective" in the raid, which took place on Tuesday in the Avasin-Basyan area of northern Iraq, without saying how many rebels were killed.

Ahmed Danis, the spokesman for the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) confirmed the air raids and said similar strikes were carried out on Wednesday morning.

"There was a Turkish air strike against some old PKK bases in Zaqkros mountain near Amediyah but there were no casualties," he told AFP by telephone from a rebel hideout in the Qandil mountains of northern Iraq.

"Turkish aircraft targeted the same area this morning again without causing any casualties."

Turkish warplanes have targeted PKK positions in northern Iraq since mid-December. In February, the army conducted a week-long ground offensive against PKK hideouts in the region, where Ankara estimates more than 2,000 militants take refuge.

Ahmed Danis, the spokesman for the PKK confirmed the air raids on Tuesday.

"There was a Turkish air strike against some old PKK bases in Zaqkros mountain but there were no casualties," he told AFP on telephone from the rebel's hideouts in the Qandil mountains of northern Iraq.

Also Tuesday, the army clashed with PKK rebels in two mountainous areas in southeast Turkey, killing at least one militant, the statement said.

The soldiers also seized rifles, ammunition, explosives and other bomb-making materials in rebel hideouts, it added.

The Turkish government has a one-year parliamentary authorisation, which expires in October, for cross-border raids in northern Iraq against the PKK.

The United States has backed Turkish military action against the rebels by providing real-time intelligence on PKK movements in Iraq.

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