Turkish warplanes bombed the Qandil border area in Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday for about an hour, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) separatist group said.

Dozdar Hammo said that Turkish jets began bombing the area, in which the PKK has bases, around 11:00 am (0800 GMT) and continued for about an hour.

The Turkish military launched an operation in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region after a PKK attack last month killed 24 soldiers in the town of Cukurca near the Iraqi border, the army's biggest loss since 1993.

The PKK took up arms for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.