(Updates with detail)

ANKARA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes bombed suspected Kurdish rebels trying to enter Turkey from northern Iraq, the military said on Friday.

The military has stepped up operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeast Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq after a series of deadly attacks by the separatists on Turkish soldiers.

"A large group of terrorists were detected while trying to sneak into Turkey last night (Thursday) through the border in northern Iraq. Most of them were eliminated with the assistance of the air force," the Turkish General Staff said.

No further details were immediately available.

A spokesman for the PKK in Iraq said there were no PKK rebels in the targeted area and that the group suffered no losses from the airstrike.

"The airstrikes will not benefit the Turks. The PKK is in Turkish Kurdistan, not Iraqi Kurdistan," Ahmed Danees told Reuters by telephone, referring to southeastern Turkey.

Turkey's parliament on Wednesday approved a government request to extend for another year a mandate to launch military operations against PKK rebels based in northern Iraq from where they are suspected of crossing into Turkey to attack soldiers.

Turkish authorities are under mounting pressure after a series of deadly attacks on Turkish security forces and police, which has left more than 20 dead in recent days.

Turkey blames the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, for the deaths of more than 40,000 people since it launched its armed campaign for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

NATO member Turkey has launched almost daily airstrikes against suspected PKK bases in northern Iraq since a cross-border ambush last week killed 17 soldiers, the deadliest single attack on the military in more than a year.

Washington is providing intelligence for the airstrikes.

The PKK says armed struggle is the only way to achieve political and cultural rights for Kurds denied by the Turkish state. (Reporting by Zerin Elci; additional reporting by Sherko Raouf in northern Iraq; Editing by Sami Aboudi)

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