Turkish jets hit Iraqi Kurd region

(CNN) -- Turkish fighter jets pounded a Kurdish border area in northern Iraq for more than two hours Saturday in an effort to rout rebels, a regional official said. No casualties were reported.

Jabbar Yawar, the deputy minister of Kurdish regional government forces, said the jets went about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) into Iraqi Kurdish territory, where they caused unspecified damage.

Yawar said civilians had deserted the mountainous terrain, and no rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, were holed up there.

He said the attacks began about 4 p.m. over Duhuk province, but that Turkish planes were circling in Iraqi airspace as early as noon.

On Wednesday, Turkey's ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, said his country's airstrikes this week against Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq were prompted by intelligence provided by the United States.

He said the operations were "tangible results" of enhanced cooperation between the two countries after a visit to Washington last month by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

During their meetings, President Bush promised the United States would do all it could to help Turkey fight the threat posed by the PKK, including providing intelligence on PKK targets.

The PKK has spent two decades fighting for autonomy for Kurds in southeastern Turkey, staging some attacks from northern Iraq. The United States and the European Union consider the group a terrorist organization. Watch how Kurds are returning to Kirkuk »

Elsewhere in Iraq, at least four people were killed and 11 wounded in a pair of car bombings Saturday, according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official.

At least four people were killed and six wounded when a suicide car bomber detonated explosives in western Baghdad's Ghazaliya neighborhood Saturday afternoon.

The victims included civilians and Iraqi police and soldiers. A ministry official said the attack targeted an Iraqi Security Force checkpoint.

In the second bombing, in al-Madae'n south of Baghdad, a roadside bomb wounded at least five Iraqi civilians, the official said.

On Friday, a U.S. soldier was killed and 11 were wounded when two roadside bombs exploded near their vehicles while on an operation in northern Iraq's Kirkuk province, the U.S. military said. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.

All About Iraq • Turkey • Kurdish Politics