Turk army shells villages in N Iraq -sources

BAGHDAD, July 7 (Reuters) Turkish forces shelled two villages in northern Iraq, an Iraqi border security source and a local official said today, but there were no reports of casualties.

Tensions have soared along the mountainous border region following a surge in attacks across Turkey that Ankara has blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants based inside northern Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan.

An Iraqi border force source said around 25 shells were fired at Merta Shesh and Gale Psagha, villages near the town of Zagho yesterday evening. A local official in the region also said dozens of shells had been fired at the area.

The officials had no other details. Turkey's military is known to sometimes shell PKK targets inside Iraq, as well as stage small raids across the border.

Turkey's powerful armed forces have urged the government to allow an incursion into neighbouring, mainly Kurdish, northern Iraq to crush up to 4,000 PKK militants who use that region as a base to attack security and civilian targets inside Turkey.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry last month accused Turkey of ''intensively shelling'' northern Iraq and said it had handed the Turkish envoy in Baghdad a protest letter.

Reuters SV GC1636