Ankara - Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets inside northern Iraq on Thursday, the Turkish General Staff announced.

In a short statement on its official website, the General Staff said Turkish Air Force planes successfully hit 16 suspected Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) targets inside northern Iraq during raids that started at 11 am (0800 GMT).

The statement said that special care was taken not to hit civilian properties and that all the Turkish jets returned to Turkey safely.

No information on what kind of targets nor their locations inside Iraq was given in the statement.

Turkish warplanes have carried out a number of bombing raids on PKK positions in northern Iraq since the end three-months ago of a week-long incursion into northern Iraq which saw up to 10,000 soldiers sent across the border to seek out Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) rebels and their camps.

According to the Turkish military, 240 PKK fighters, 24 Turkish soldiers and three Turkish state-employed village guards were killed in the week-long operation.

Ankara blames the separatist group for the deaths of more than 32,000 people since the early 1980s when the PKK began its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated south-east of Turkey.

The PKK is listed by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group. (dpa)