Turkey says it killed PKK members in northern Iraq strikes

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey hit northern Iraq with air strikes on Wednesday and claimed to have killed 12 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) sheltering there.

The Turkish defence ministry said the PKK militants had been "neutralised" in the Gara and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq.

The ministry's use of the term "neutralised" commonly means killed. The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)