Turkish army fires on PKK in Iraq

BBC

The Turkish army says it has inflicted "heavy losses" on rebels from the Kurdish separatist PKK movement across the border in Iraq.

The army said it fired on a group of about 50 rebels. It was not immediately clear whether troops entered Iraq.

In October, Turkey's parliament voted to allow the military to launch operations into Iraq to combat the PKK, which had stepped up attacks in Turkey.

But Iraq and the US have urged Turkey not to carry out its threat.

"As part of intelligence work, a group of 50-60 PKK terrorists was spotted inside Iraq's borders," the army said on its website, according to the Reuters news agency.

"An intense intervention was made on the group and it was detected that the terrorist group had suffered heavy casualties."

The army said it could step up its "intervention" in the region if this was needed.