( dpa ) - The government of Iraq's Kurdish Autonomous Region denied Thursday that wounded rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were receiving treatment in the region's hospitals.
"News reported on the website of the Turkish General Staff that wounded PKK rebels are receiving treatment in hospitals in the Kurdish region are untrue," said a statement by a government spokesman.
Local hospitals have not received any wounded rebels as the government of the Kurdish region is still committed to its position and steps previously taken against the PKK, the statement said.
The region's government announced in November a number of restrictions on PKK activities, including a ban on travel from local airports and tighter control at checkpoints to cut off rebel supply lines.
The government has also tightened the noose on the Makhmur refugee camp, which Turkey has long said was a safe haven for PKK rebels and called for its closure.
The camp was set up in the 1990s to receive thousands of refugees from Turkey's Kurdish minority.
Meanwhile, senior Turkish officials were due in Baghdad Wednesday to deliver a letter from President Abdullah Gul to his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.