Ankara - Turkish warplanes bombed a number of suspected Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq on Thursday, the private NTV television broadcaster reported a military official as saying.

The jets bombed suspected bases in the Zap and Avasin regions just over the Turkish border with Iraq, General Metin Gurak told reporters in Ankara on Friday.

Turkish planes regularly conduct airstrikes of suspected Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq. The PKK uses the mountainous region near the border as a base from which to launch attacks inside Turkey.

Ankara blames the separatist group for the deaths of more than 35,000 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 considered by the United States and the European Union to be a terrorist group. (dpa)