Turkish F-16s have begun flying over Cyprus armed with live ammunition for the first time in 10 months in retaliation for Greek participation in Greek Cypriot military maneuvers on Cyprus. The Turkish F-16 jets would thus have broken the agreement made with Washington last year not to fly armed over the island.

According to Greece, two Turkish F-16s buzzed the C-130 Hercules carrying the Greek Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos on Monday, before being intercepted by Greekjets taking part in a Greek-Cypriot military exercise on the divided island.

Turkish F-16 warplanes on Thursday again bombed PKK positions in northern Iraq, in the latest of an almost daily series of air raids across the border.

Turkish F-16s have destroyed 10 camps used by separatist Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq in a cross-border incursion this week, state-run Anatolian news agency reported.

Turkish security forces said on Monday they had killed 40 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels in clashes in the rugged southeast of the country.

Around 15, 000 Turkish troops entered northern Iraq three weeks ago in an offensive against the PKK. The rebels use the remote region to launch attacks in their fight for self-rule in southeastern Turkey. Although the operation has been condemned by Baghdad and much of the Arab world, the Turkish Air Force continues to bomb the PKK.