Turkish aircraft have bombed Kurdish rebel bases in the mountainous border regions of Iraq following a deadly weekend ambush on a group of Turkish soldiers, security sources confirmed yesterday.

The raids step up Turkish pressure on Iraq to act against separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) near its northern borders, but Turkey has yet to launch a full-scale incursion feared by the United States and Baghdad as it awaits the fruits of its latest package of belligerence and diplomacy.

As bomb-laden aircraft streamed out of Diyarbakir military airport in southeast Turkey, a major launch pad for attacks against PKK militants, military sources confirmed a series of “hot pursuit” air attacks following the killing of at least 12 Turkish soldiers and kidnap of eight more in a weekend ambush. They said the attacks took place between Sunday and Tuesday, with further raids possible.

Cemil Cicek, Deputy Prime Minister, was quoted by government MPs as saying that F16 fighter jets and rockets had hit PKK camps close to the border and even ventured as far as 50 kilometres into Iraq. Many of the at least 34 rebels believed dead were killed as a result of these attacks, they said. The PKK denies any casualties.

Military sources would only confirm warplane sorties of 20 kilometres into Iraq and a limited and temporary ground troop advance of about 10 kilometres.

The Turkish general staff and witnesses in the region are reporting intensified military operations in rural southeast Turkey. Security officials in Tunceli province said the PKK set off a remote-control bomb, targeting soldiers crossing the field where it was buried, but nobody was killed or injured.

Turkey’s National Security Council, a highly influential body headed by the President, Abdullah Gul, and including the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Chief of General Staff, Yasar Buyukanit, and top military and political figures, met for several hours yesterday to plot the next move in an increasingly high-stakes battle of wills between Ankara and foreign capitals.

On the table at the meeting, as well as the scope and timing of any incursion, were possible sanctions against Iraq as well as a plan to reinforce the porous border between Turkey and Iraq.

The Turkish government is under great pressure to act against the PKK after some 30 soldiers were killed in two weekends of violence.

Turkish officials believe the PKK is able to train undisturbed in bases in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq and launch cross-border attacks with US weapons obtained there.

Washington and Baghdad are trying to avert any military operation that could bring chaos to one of the rare stable parts of Iraq. Turkey’s avowed determination press ahead and clamp down on the PKK is being seen here as finally galvanizing the US and Iraq into action after months of quiet diplomacy failed to produce a result. Statements from Iraqi and US authorities calling on the PKK to stop activities and promises to shut down their offices have been welcomed but declared not enough to avert an incursion.

Foreign ministry officials have said following Foreign Minister Ali Babacan’s visit to Baghdad that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani would consider handing over PKK leaders, a move he had previously said was impossible. Handing over senior PKK men was one of Mr Erdogan’s conditions for preventing a Turkish operation.

A high level Iraqi delegation, including the Iraqi Defence and National Security Ministers, is expected in Turkey today for what are being billed as last-ditch talks with the Foreign Ministry and General staff.

Suna Erdem in Istanbul