Turkish commandos are patrolling the snowy, mountainous region of northern Iraq Sunday as a major ground operation targeting Kurdish rebels continues for a third day.

"It has been understood from preliminary information that the terrorists have suffered heavy losses," said a source within the Turkish military, which has deployed special forces units backed up by jets and helicopter gunships. "According to intelligence, the (PKK) leaders are trying to flee southwards in panic."

Turkish commanders said the operation is codenamed Gunes, after a three-year-old girl whose father, Kasim Aksoy, was one of 13 members of a crack Turkish unit killed in a PKK ambush in October. Pictures of Gunes standing in bare feet and ragged clothing at her father's funeral fuelled the outrage, and are believed to have strengthened Ankara's resolve to move against the PKK.
Turkey's military says 15 of its soldiers and at least 112 Kurdish rebels have been killed during the operation.
Turkey says the incursion is aimed at protecting Turkish people from attacks carried out by rebels based in Iraq.