ANKARA (AFP) - Kurdish rebels shot at a Turkish army base on the country's border with Iraq on Monday, prompting an army helicopter to return fire, the Turkish military said.

"A group of terrorists fired intimidatory shots at an army base... in the south-eastern city of Sirnak" and the chopper returned fire in "self-defence", an army statement said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party which has been pulling out of Turkey since early May in line with a peace accord.