Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq (web|news) Thursday, private news channel NTV reported. The planes flew reconnaissance flights over the border area before bombing targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, the station said, citing Iraqi Kurdish officials. There were no reports of civilian casualties, it said.

Last month Turkey launched a major ground operation into northern Iraq to hit Kurdish guerrilla camps there. The eight-day incursion ended on Feb. 29.

There was no immediate confirmation of the new attack from the Turkish military. But military chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit has said Turkey will continue its attacks against rebels in northern Iraq.

Later Thursday, several fighter jets took off from an air base in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mostly Kurdish southeast.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who visited Ankara earlier this month, said the rebels would not be tolerated inside Iraq's borders and that Baghdad was pressuring them to lay down their arms.

The PKK has said it wants political and cultural autonomy for the predominantly Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since it began in 1984.

The Turkish military has said it inflicted heavy losses on a large group of rebels in Iraq's Zap region, close to the Turkish border, during last month's ground incursion. The rebels have disputed that claim.

The Turkish parliament planned a closed-door session Thursday to discuss the ground incursion. The debate was called by Turkey's opposition leaders, who say the mission should have been more sweeping and that the military withdrew prematurely from Iraq under U.S. pressure.

The military has denied that the timing was linked to U.S. calls for withdrawal.

Written By SELCAN HACAOGLU

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