Turkey hits Kurdish areas in Iraq's Sinjar, northeast Syria

FILE -- In this July 29, 2015 file photo, a Turkish Air Force warplane rises in the sky after taking off from Incirlik Air Base, in Adana, southern Turkey. On Tuesday, April 25, 2017, Turkish warplanes carried out airstrikes against suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and in northeastern Syria, the military said, in a bid to prevent militants from smuggling fighters and weapons into Turkey. Although Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes against outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK targets in northern Iraq, this was the first time it has struck the Sinjar region. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File) (The Associated Press)

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey's military says its warplanes have carried out airstrikes against what it says are Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and in northeastern Syria.

A military statement says the targets that were hit in the early hours of Tuesday were located on the Sinjar Mountain in northern Iraq and also in a mountainous region in Syria.

The statement says the operations were conducted to prevent the infiltration of Kurdish rebels, weapons, ammunition and explosives from those areas into Turkey.

Ankara says members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are finding sanctuaries in neighboring Iraq and Syria, among those countries' own Kurdish minorities.

There was no immediate word on possible casualties.

Turkey has long claimed Iraq's Sinjar region was becoming a hotbed for PKK rebels.