Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for the Peshmerga security forces of northern Iraq, said Turkish forces had shelled two areas in Dahuk province for two hours. Earlier, Iraqi Kurdish television said the Turkish military had bombed northern Iraq.

A senior Iraqi border guards officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were no casualties in the shelling, which took place between 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and 9 a.m. (0600 GMT).

It was the first reported cross-border action since a bomb attack in the Turkish town of Diyarbakir on Jan. 3, which killed six people. Turkish authorities blamed that attack on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas.