Turkish warplanes targeting PKK militants bombed areas in northern Iraq on Sunday for the second day in a row but caused no casualties, an Iraqi Kurdish official said.

Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish security forces, said the airstrikes in a deserted mountainous area in northern Iraq started at 3:00 p.m. (7:00 a.m. EST) and lasted for more than three hours. He said the only damage was to farmland.

There was no immediate comment from the Turkish military, which said on Saturday it planned to continue its operations against PKK militants inside Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq.

Turkey says it has the right to use force to combat the PKK, which uses the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq as a launchpad to mount attacks in which they have killed dozens of Turkish troops in recent months.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan did not confirm or deny a Turkish raid on Sunday.

But he defended the country's right to use military force to attack the PKK across the border.

"We are using our rights based on international law ... We only have determination and that determination will continue as planned," Erdogan told the state-run Anatolian news agency.


Agencies

Güncelleme Tarihi: 24 Aralık 2007, 15:03