A Kurdish rebel group said on Friday that Turkey 's air force carried out air strikes on border areas of north Iraq , but gave no details about casualties or damage.

"On March 8, between 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) and 8:00 pm (1700 GMT), F-16 jet fighters belonging to the occupation army of Turkey launched air raids" against the Jabal Mattine area, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) said in a statement.

It gave no further details.

The air strikes were the first reported raids in around a month on north Iraq 's autonomous Kurdish region, where the PKK maintains rear bases.

Fighting between Turkish forces and PKK rebels has escalated in recent months.

In October, Turkey launched a major air and land offensive against the rebels in the southeast of the country and in neighbouring northern Iraq after 24 of its troops were killed in a night-time ambush by rebels.

The PKK took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives. It is labelled a terrorist outfit by Ankara and much of the international community.
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