The rebels were members of an Iranian group associated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), it said, citing sources in the group.

The Turkish army confirmed the raids, saying that all the aircraft had returned safely and that the operation had been carried out "with efficacy."

It added that all steps had been taken to avoid collateral damage.

The bombings began around midday in the mountainous region of Qandil, near the border between Iraq and Turkey, the news agency said.

The villages of Dola Koke, Aliye Res and Kurtek were targeted, it said.

According to the agency, the four dead were new recruits to Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an Iranian Kurdish separatist organisation with ties to the PKK.

In recent weeks violence in the region has escalated following an attack on October 3 on a Turkish barracks on the Iraqi border by Kurdish rebels in which 17 Turkish troops died.

Turkish planes have since several times attacked rebel bases in northern Iraq.

The Turkish army said Friday that up to 35 Kurdish rebels may have died in a military offensive near the Iraqi border earlier this week.

General Metin Gurak, the head of the general staff's press department, told reporters in Ankara that intercepted radio communication between the rebels during Tuesday's operation in Sirnak province spoke of up to 35 casualties.

"As you can see the organisation has suffered heavily. We are still sweeping the area. We do not have an official statement" on the losses, he added.

The outlawed PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 44,000 lives.

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