THE TURKISH ARMY claims to have killed up to 100 Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq after a week of artillery and air strikes against suspected Kurdistan Workers Party bases.

The military said in a statement posted on its website that than 80 separatist rebels were injured in six days of cross-border air raids that began on Wednesday, hours after eight soldiers and a government-paid village guard were killed in an ambush by the PKK near the border with Iraq.

“According to initial information obtained, between 90 and 100 terrorists were rendered ineffective, more than 80 wounded terrorists were moved to hospitals or villages, and contact with a high number of terrorists was cut,” the military said.

“Rendered ineffective” is a term used by the military to refer to rebels killed.

The PKK has said that just three members were killed by Turkish forces.

The PKK, which launched its armed insurrection in 1984, is classed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey.

The resurgence in violence has dealt a blow to hopes of negotiations ahead of the country’s general election, the BBC reports. A PKK spokesman told the BBC that the organisation would “go to war with Turkey” if the attacks did not stop.

Reuters reports that at least 2,000 people protested on Sunday in the town of Rania, where several civilians were killed in the strikes - including a three-month-old baby.

Additional reporting by the AP