"A large-scale land operation, backed by air strikes, has began in five separate spots inside Turkey and across the border (northern Iraq) with 22 battalions," the general staff said in a written statement posted on its website.
The 22 battalions are made up of commando units as well as gendarmerie and special forces, it added. Analysts said they were the equivalent of 10-15,000 troops.
The deadly attacks on military posts in the mainly Kurdish southeast near the Iraqi border left 24 soldiers dead and 18 wounded.
They triggered round-the-clock bombing raids on rebel camps in northern Iraq by air force jets before the ground incursions.
Clashes between the PKK and the army have escalated since the summer.
Five police and four civilians were killed in a landmine explosion in the southeast on Tuesday.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
