Cockpit view of targets being struck in Iraq

Turkey said Wednesday it has airlifted troops for a cross-border ground operation against Turkey's Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, the first known airborne-and-land offensive by Ankara inside Iraqi territory.

The offensive into the border region of Haftanin, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Turkey-Iraq border, was launched following intense artillery fire into the area, said the Defense Ministry in Ankara.

Turkey regularly carries out air and ground attacks against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which it says maintains bases in northern Iraq.

Wednesday's was the first known airborne and land offensive.

Turkey has defended its past operations into northern Iraq, saying neither the Iraqi government nor the regional Iraqi Kurdish administration have acted to remove PKK insurgents who allegedly use Iraq's territory to stage attacks on Turkey.

The ministry said Wednesday's operation, dubbed Operation Claw-Tiger, follows "increasing harassment and attempts to attack" military outposts or bases in Turkey.

It said the Turkish forces would target other "terror" groups in the region, but did not name them, and shared videos of Defense Minister Hulusi Akar overseeing the mission at a command center in Ankara.

The development came days after Turkey launched an air operation in the region, which the Defense Ministry said hit suspected PKK targets in several locations in Iraq's north, including Sinjar, and targeted 81 rebel hideouts.

Baghdad summoned Ankara's ambassador to Iraq , Fatih Yildiz, on Tuesday to protest Turkey's pounding of PKK targets in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

The PKK has led a decades-long insurgency in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region.

It is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The conflict has led to the loss of tens of thousands lives since it started in 1984.