Ankara - Turkish warplanes bombed suspected Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq on Monday morning, three days after a PKK attack on a border post killed 15 Turkish soldiers.

According to a statement released by the Turkish General Staff, the warplanes bombed PKK positions in the mountainous Avasin region of northern Iraq.

"The planes returned safely to base after successfully completing their mission," the statement said. Turkish jets also attacked positions in the same area on Sunday night.

The attack on Friday night on the Aktutun border post in the south-eastern province of Hakkari that left 15 soldiers and 23 PKK separatists dead has shocked Turkey and led to the General Staff on Sunday announcing that it was to relocate five military border posts.

A spokesman for the military said the administration of the Kurdish autonomous area in Iraq had not helped in the fight against the PKK, despite overtures by Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani.

After the attack Talabani called his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul to propose a meeting of high-ranking security experts from both sides, suggesting Iraqi willingness to help Turkey de-escalate the situation.

The Turkish Air Force have conducted a number of airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq since a week-long cross-border incursion into northern Iraq was launched in February.

Ankara blames the separatist group for the deaths of more than 35,000 people since the early 1980s when the PKK began its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated south-east of Turkey.

The PKK is considered by the United States and the European Union to be a terrorist group. (dpa)