Turkey's military stepped up an aerial bombing campaign against suspected Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq on Monday after at least 15 Turkish soldiers were killed in a cross-border attack on Friday.
Public anger is mounting after the attack - the deadliest against the military in one year - and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the powerful military have pledged to intensify a campaign to crush the outlawed PKK.
The incident has strained ties between Iraq and Turkey, which accuses its neighbour of not doing enough to combat rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) based in mountainous northern Iraq. Two soldiers were wounded in Friday's attack, in which the rebels used heavy weapons, and two were missing.
"The military continues to follow terrorist members who took part in the October 3 attack," the General Staff said in a statement, announcing the second such aerial attack on rebel bases in northern Iraq since the PKK ambush. "Our warplanes achieved their mission and came back to base safely," the statement said.
It said the raid targeted a group of PKK militants holed up in the Avasin Basyan region. There was no immediate indication of whether the raids had caused casualties or what damage had been caused.
Nato-member Turkey has attacked PKK bases in northern Iraq several times over the past 12 months but has confined itself to shelling and air strikes since a brief land offensive in February. In a display of nation-wide indignation, mourners booed Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul during funerals on Sunday for some of the soldiers killed. Waving Turkish flags, thousands poured into the streets across the country in mourning. Kurdish PKK rebels said on Monday they were holding the two Turkish soldiers who went missing.
"We have two Turkish soldiers. I cannot confirm if they are dead or alive. We will announce this soon," PKK spokesman Ahmed Danees said by telephone to a Reuters journalist based in Kurdish northern Iraq.