Turkey's military says it has completed its goals against the Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and its troops have returned. The military says the troops returned to their bases on Friday morning, eight days after being sent there for a cross-border ground operation against the banned Kurdish Workers' Party rebels. TV reports have also shown Turkish military vehicles and helicopters returning from northern Iraq. The military says in a statement that 240 PKK rebels and 24 soldiers have been killed in the operation that started on February 21. The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey.