Iraq to deploy troops along border after Turkey attacks on PKK

Iraq will deploy security forces along the mountainous border with Turkey and take action against Ankara at the United Nations over air strikes on Kurdish separatists based in northwest Iraq.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi made the announcement in a statement on Sunday after meeting with the country's national security council.

The statement said council members had agreed to "deploy border guard forces along the Iraqi-Turkish border to prevent violations".

"The Foreign Ministry will take adequate measures to document Turkish violations of Iraqi airspace and present them to the United Nations Security Council," it added.

The move comes after Turkish warplanes repeatedly bombed positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Sinjar and Qandil regions of northern Iraq.

Last month, The New Arab's Arabic-language service reported the Turkish military pushed 27 kilometres into Iraqi Kurdistan to attack PKK forces in the Qandil mountains.

The mountain range has long been used by the PKK as a safe haven, with its treacherous passes providing effective cover against air strikes.

Turkey has said its military operations have taken place with the permission of the Iraqi government.

Baghdad and Erbil have both denied Ankara's claims and have criticised the violations, as well as the PKK's presence.

Outlawed by Ankara, the PKK has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, and the Turkish army is battling the group's militants both inside Turkey and in northern Iraq.