Turkish Planes Attack Kurdish Rebel Targets in Iraq

Turkish military planes struck rebel targets in northern Iraq in a bid to rout separatists from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), security sources said Tuesday.

"A total of 18 targets were fired at on Monday in the northern Iraqi regions of Zap and Metina" in Iraqi Kurdistan, said a source in southeastern Turkey, on the border with Iraq.

A separate source in Ankara said F-16 fighter planes had continued to pound the region on Tuesday. It was not made clear whether there were any victims.

Turkey says around 2,000 Kurdish rebels are hiding in the mountainous region on the Iraqi side the region.

The raids, the first in several weeks, come as the long-running conflict between the rebels and Turkey appears to reignite and threatens to derail unconfirmed peace talks between Ankara and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

On Sunday, a senior PKK member was reported killed in a shootout in Turkey's Kurdish majority southeast, days after three women Kurdish activists were slain in Paris.

Around 45,000 people are believed to have been killed in 30 years of fighting between Turkish security forces and the PKK, which took up arms for autonomy in 1984.