Turkish warplanes successfully struck 16 targets in a fresh raid targeting Kurdish terrorists in northern Iraq, a senior Turkish general said Friday.

"The 16 targets in the Kandil region were hit with full accuracy Thursday night," General Metin Gürak, the head of the General Staff's press department, told a weekly press briefing. All the planes returned safely to base and a damage assessment was underway, he said.

  Gürak also revealed 16 civilians were hurt in PKK attacks since the beginning of September, while houses of two civilians became targets of PKK explosives.

  Under a one-year parliamentary authorization obtained last October, the Turkish army has carried out several cross-border operations, including a week-long ground incursion against the PKK using intelligence passed on by Turkey's close ally, the United States. The Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government recently asked Parliament to extend the parliamentary authorization to launch further military operations against the PKK in Iraq.

  The authorization expires Oct. 17 and the government said last week it would ask Parliament to extend the mandate by one year after the opening of the new session Oct. 1.

  The PKK - considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union - has been fighting for self-rule in the southeast and east of Turkey since 1984, in a conflict that has claimed some 44,000 lives. 

  Turkey says thousands of PKK members are holed up in rear bases in northern Iraq from where they stage cross-border attacks on Turkish targets.

  Meanwhile, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, along with force commanders, yesterday visited Tunceli, another southeastern Turkish province. Başbuğ and his delegation inspected the two military units in the region after a meeting with the regional gendarmerie commander Gen. Mehmet Çörten. They also met with Tunceli Governor Mustafa Yaman.