ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Turkish military killed eight Kurdish militants in air strikes in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey at the weekend, it said on Sunday.

The air strikes were carried out on northern Iraq’s Zap region and Turkey’s southeastern provinces of Sirnak and Van, the military tweeted.

Turkey has stepped up strikes on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq, especially its stronghold in the Qandil mountains. Ankara has said it may launch a ground offensive into Qandil, where it believes high-ranking PKK members are based.