Turkey's army intensified an aerial bombing campaign against suspected Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq on Monday after at least 15 Turkish troops died in a cross-border attack on Friday. Public anger is mounting after the attack and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the military have vowed to intensify a campaign to crush the PKK.

"The military continues to follow terrorist members who took part in the Oct. 3 attack," the General Staff said in a statement, cited by Reuters. "Our warplanes achieved their mission and came back to base safely," the statement said.

It said the raid targeted a group of PKK gunmen holed up in the Avasin Basyan region.

Kurdish PKK gunmen said on Monday they were holding the two Turkish soldiers who went missing. "We have two Turkish soldiers. I cannot confirm if they are dead or alive. We will announce this soon," PKK spokesman Ahmed Danees said by telephone to a Reuters journalist based in Kurdish northern Iraq.

© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)