Turkish air strikes target Kurdish rebels overnight

Istanbul: The Turkish military says it conducted overnight air strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey.

The nearly three-hour bombing blitz targeted areas of Avasin, Hakurk and Qandil, the Iraqi stronghold of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

Turkish planes also carried out raids in the southeastern province of Sirnak, Turkey.

An army statement carried by the state-owned Anadolu Agency on Saturday said several bunkers and depots were destroyed. Turkey, along with its US and European Union allies, designates the PKK as a terrorist organisation.

The PKK has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has left 40,000 dead. A peace process collapsed last summer, opening a new cycle of violence in the predominantly Kurdish southeast.