Turkish warplanes destroyed 12 targets in northern Iraq late on Monday, the military said, striking a region where Ankara says the leadership of Turkey's outlawed Kurdish militant group PKK is based.

The military statement said the sites hit were in the Metina and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq, but did not give further details. In the past, such strikes have been aimed at targets Turkey says are linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK has been fighting a three-decades-old insurgency against Ankara to demand autonomy in Turkey's southeast region.