Eight rockets fired at Turkish base in Iraq, Kurdish security group says

ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) -Unidentified attackers fired eight rockets at a Turkish military base in northern Iraq on Wednesday, two of which landed inside, the Counter-Terrorism Group, a security organisation in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, said.

Turkey confirmed that the attack took place and vowed to retaliate.

"From time to time, there are some attacks (on Turkish bases), and we are retaliating against these attacks and necessary measures are taken," Defence Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters in Ankara.

A Turkish security source said earlier the attack had caused no damage and there were no casualties. An Iraqi security source who declined to be identified said an Iraqi contractor in the base had been wounded.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the early hours on the Zilkan base, which hosts Turkish troops in Ninevah province in northern Iraq.

Turkey has been carrying out operations in Iraq for decades against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has bases in the region. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The group launched an insurgency in southeast Turkey in 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.

(Reporting by Ali Sultan, Jamal al-Badrani in Mosul, Nadine Awadalla in Dubai, Huseyin Hayatsever in Ankara, writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie)