Special Report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    ANKARA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Thirteen rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) have been killed when Turkish air strikes were waged against PKK targets based in northern Iraq last week, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Friday.

    Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets in Hakurk region in northern Iraq during Feb. 4-5, said the report.

    The Turkish forces take tougher actions against the PKK after the country's legislature extended on Oct. 8 the government's mandate to launch cross-border operations against the rebels in northern Iraq.

    The PKK took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.