Turkish warplanes bombed suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey early Tuesday in retaliation for an attack that killed 17 soldiers, the Turkish military said.

Turkey's prime minister indicated that the country could be preparing to launch new cross-border ground operations.

The military said fighter jets attacked 21 rebel positions in Iraq's Avasin Baysan region and Turkish mountains bordering Iraq in the fourth round of airstrikes since Friday's attack.

In February, Turkish ground troops crossed into Iraqi territory for a weeklong operation against the rebels.

"If there is a need, necessary measures will be taken at the right time and place in the most effective way, as in the past year," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech to his party's lawmakers in parliament. "Iraq is our neighbor and the people there are our brothers, our relatives. If there is the need, an operation will not target the civilians or Iraq's integrity."

Rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, fired mortar rounds and artillery from Iraq at a military outpost in a Turkish valley Friday, sparking the deadliest battle between Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels in eight months. The military said Tuesday it had recovered two more rebel bodies, raising the PKK death toll in the gunbattles on the ground to 25.

The military said it had not determined how many rebels have been killed in the airstrikes.

The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast since 1984. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people.

Parliament is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to extend by another year the military's authority to carry out operations in northern Iraq. The current mandate expires Oct. 17.

The government is also considering a military request for an increase in powers in combatting rebels, such as conducting searches and detaining terrorism suspects without authorization of prosecutors.

The military has said changes to Turkish anti-terrorism laws, pushed by the European Union, have crippled its ability to fight the rebels and should be revoked without jeopardizing human rights.

Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said that consensus has been reached over the military's requests for changes, which will be taken up during a security meeting on Thursday.