ANKARA, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Turkish bomber planes carried out airstrikes Tuesday in northern Iraq, targeting suspected bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the country's General Staff said.

Tuesday bombings continue a series of raids that began last Friday in response to separatists' attacks on a military outpost in a Turkish valley, when 17 Turkish soldiers were killed and more than 20 wounded by mortar fire.

The General Staff said in a statement that the airstrikes were delivered in mountainous areas of Avasin Baysan, Iki Yaka and Buzul Dagi and had destroyed 21 targets.

"All aircraft involved in the operation have successfully returned to their places of permanent deployment," the statement said.

The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by the EU, the United States, and many other countries, has been fighting for an autonomous ethnic Kurd state in southeast Turkey for nearly 25 years. The conflict has claimed over 40,000 lives.