Turkish soldiers patrol on a road near Yuksekova in southeastern Turkey, bordering Iraq, December 24, 2007. [Photo: Reuters]

Turkish security forces on Wednesday killed six members of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) and captured two others in southeastern Turkey, a Turkish military statement said.

The statement posted on the military's web site said, "Turkish troops clashed with a group of members of the terrorist organization PKK on Wednesday morning within the scope of ongoing operations on Mount Kupeli in Sirnak."

The Turkish troops killed six terrorists and captured two others in the operation, it said.

On Tuesday, the Turkish security forces killed five PKK members in the Kupeli mountains in the same province.

On Wednesday, Turkish warplanes struck eight PKK suspected hideouts in northern Iraq, said a statement issued by the Turkish General Staff.

Turkish warplanes carried out Tuesday air strikes at some villages near the border in the Qandil mountains, it said.

The statement also disclosed a cross-border air operation on Dec. 22, which targeted some other PKK targets after a salvo of artillery fires.

The Turkish military has recently launched several cross-border attacks to fight against separatist PKK rebels, who use northern Iraq as a launch pad for attacks against Turkey.

The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.