The Turkish General Staff said on Sunday that its warplanes have bombed the rebel bases of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.

The Turkish warplane hit the PKK bases in Avasin Basyan region in northern Iraq on Saturday after a PKK Friday attack that killed some 15 Turkish soldiers in southeastern province of Hakkari, the military said in a statement.

A relative of one of the Turkish soldiers killed in an attack by Kurdish separatists cries during his funeral in Kocaeli, Turkey, Oct. 5, 2008. 15 soldiers from the Turkish security forces were killed on Oct. 3 in a terrorist attack staged by the banned Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Hakkari. [Xinhua Photo]

The statement said that the warplanes have all safely returned to their bases.

Earlier on Saturday, the Turkish military said that 15 of its soldiers were killed when the PKK attacked Aktutun Gendarmerie Border Unit in Semdinli town in Hakkarion province on Friday afternoon from northern Iraq.

Twenty-three PKK militants were also killed in the clashes between the PKK and Turkish security forces, the military added.

The PKK took up arms in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.

Turkey has conducted frequent air raids on suspected positions of the PKK in northern Iraq. In February, it also launched an eight-day ground incursion into Iraq.

Turkish people attend the funerals of the Turkish soldiers killed in an attack by Kurdish separatists in Kocaeli, Turkey, Oct. 5, 2008. 15 soldiers from the Turkish security forces were killed on Oct. 3 in a terrorist attack staged by the banned Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Hakkari. [Xinhua Photo]

(Xinhua News Agency October 6, 2008)