The President of Iraq's Kurdistan warns Turkey it will face 'large-scale' resistance if it targets civilians in its ground incursion into Iraq.

The Turkish military launched the offensive into northern Iraq on Friday after heavy aircraft and artillery bombardment of the suspected Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) hideouts on Thursday.

President Massoud Barzani's office warned on Saturday in a statement that the Iraqi regional government would not stand by in case the Turkish military operation harms civilians.

"The regional government of Kurdistan will not be a part of the conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK fighters. But at the same time we stress that if the Turkish military targets any Kurdish civilian citizens or any civilian structures then we will order a large-scale resistance,'' it said.

The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since the mid-1980s, and their insurgency has left thousands of people dead.

Turkey has earlier warned of a possible ground offensive against about 3,000 PKK militants using northern Iraq as a base to carry out attacks in Turkey.

DT/DT