Turkey ? Turkey said dozens of its warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets as deep as 60 miles inside northern Iraq for three hours Sunday, the largest aerial attack in years against the outlawed separatist group. Turkey’s military chief said the U.S. gave intelligence and tacit approval for the raid.

Rebels said two civilians and five rebels were killed.

In the nighttime offensive, the fighter jets hit rebel positions close to the border with Turkey and in the Qandil mountains, which straddle the Iraq-Iran border, the Turkish military said in a statement posted on its Web site. It said the operation was directed against the rebels and not against the local population.

As many as 50 fighter jets were involved in the airstrikes, private NTV television and other media reported. Turkey has recently attacked the area with ground-based artillery and helicopters and there have been some unconfirmed reports of airstrikes by warplanes.

The attack came a month after the United States promised to share intelligence with Turkey about the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkey’s military chief, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said U.S. intelligence was used.

“America gave intelligence,” Kanal D television quoted Buyukanit as saying. “But more importantly, America last night opened (the Iraqi) airspace to us. By opening the airspace, America gave its approval to this operation,” he said.