PKK says it shot down Turkish helicopter

Kurdish rebels claimed they shot down a Turkish military helicopter during fighting in northern Iraq, a pro-Kurdish news agency…

Kurdish rebels claimed they shot down a Turkish military helicopter during fighting in northern Iraq, a pro-Kurdish news agency reported, but there was no confirmation from the Turkish military.

The Firat news agency, which often carries statements of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, reported that the guerrillas downed a Cobra attack helicopter near the village of Hore, close to the Turkish border. It gave no other details and cited no named sources.

There was no way to verify the claim independently.

The Turkish military says seven of its soldiers and at least 79 rebels have been killed in Iraq since it began a ground incursion to chase the rebels late Thursday.

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The PKK says it has killed at least 15 Turkish troops so far.

The incursion is the first confirmed Turkish military ground operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.