Kurdish rebels have killed 22 Turkish soldiers in clashes in northern Iraq, a spokesman for the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said on Saturday.

'After clashes yesterday between the PKK and the Turkish forces, 22 Turkish soldiers were killed. Not more than five PKK soldiers were wounded,' Ahmed Danees, head of foreign relations for the PKK, told Reuters by satellite phone.

The Turkish military said on Friday that 24 PKK rebels and five soldiers had been killed in clashes. Verifying the information is difficult as the fighting is taking place in an inaccessible mountainous region.-Reuters