Baghdad  - The Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq announced a nine-day ceasefire with Turkey in honour of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival, it was reported Monday.

"We want thereby to open the door to dialogue with Turkey," the news agency Aswat al-Iraq quoted PKK spokesman Ahmet Deniz as saying.

Deniz added that in the coming days PKK fighters would only resort to arms when attacked by Turkish troops.

The PKK in the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq controls camps that it uses as bases for border attacks against neighbouring Turkey, from which it seeks independence or autonomy for its Kurdish population.

The Turkish army claims that during a week-long ground offensive in northern Iraq in February its troops killed 240 fighters of the PKK, which is considered by Turkey, the European Union and the United States to be a terrorist organization. Twenty-seven Turkish soldiers also died in the offensive.

Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated in most Muslim states for three to five days, began Monday. (dpa)