Turkish troops have fully withdrawn from the key Zap valley of northern Iraq where they have been battling Kurdish PKK militants, a Turkish military source told Reuters.

Most of the troops withdrawing from the valley are already in Turkey and the remainder will soon cross the border, the source said.

Earlier, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters in Baghdad that all Turkish troops had withdrawn from northern Iraq, eight days after they launched a major ground offensive to crush the PKK rebels in the region.

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