Turkey's NTV news channel has reported that Turkish commandoes have conducted a raid into Iraq to strike Kurdish rebels.

NTV said the raid was a two-day operation involving two battalions supported by warplanes.

The troops targeted bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) located within five kilometers of the Turkish border.

Citing unnamed military sources, NTV reported the raid was "small-scale but effective," without providing any casualty figures.

Turkey often conducts raids into Iraq to strike at Kurdish rebels who use Iraq's mountainous areas as safe havens for planning and initiating attacks inside Turkey.

The PKK has been seeking an independent Kurdish state in areas of what is now southeastern Turkey.

Thousands of people have been killed in more than three decades of the conflict between Kurdish rebels and Turkish authorities.