The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) launched cross-border ground operations against the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq late on Thursday, earlier than the original plan in March to stifle the weakened group, local analysts said on Saturday.

The Turkish military General Staff announced in a statement on Friday that the TSK launched a cross-border ground operation into north of Iraq as of 7 P.M. (1700 GMT) on Thursday following successful artillery bombardment, which was backed by air forces jets.

With the support of the United States, the cross-border ground operations came earlier than planned, mainly to catch the PKK by surprise and stifle the weakened group before they have any chance to recover, said a Turkish military analyst.

According to earlier estimates, the TSK was planning to launch the ground offensive in late March, waiting for the snow in the region to melt, which had made it extremely difficult for military vehicles and personnel to move along the mountainous Iraqi border.

Turkish air raids started on December 16 last year with the support of US real-time intelligence and have had a serious psychological impact on the PKK by disrupting its communications and other infrastructure.

Reliable Turkish sources told Xinhua that six Turkish air raids since December 16 had seriously hit PKK camps and positions in northern Iraq and the TSK launched the ground operations to wipe out groups of the PKK rebels who escaped from their camps following the Turkish air raids.