CUKURCA, Turkey (AP) - Kurdish rebels said they shot down a Turkish military helicopter during fighting in northern Iraq, a pro-Kurdish news agency reported, but there was no confirmation from Turkey and no way to verify the claim independently.

The Firat news agency, which often carries statements of the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, reported Saturday that the guerrillas downed a Cobra attack helicopter near the village of Hore, close to the Turkish border. It gave no other details and cited no named sources.

The Turkish military says seven of its soldiers and at least 79 rebels have been killed in Iraq since it began a ground incursion to chase the rebels late Thursday.

The PKK says it has killed 15 Turkish troops.

The incursion is the first confirmed Turkish military ground operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.