The BBC's David O'Byrne says the Turkish army claims PKK rebels were the intended target
An air strike by Turkish warplanes near a Kurdish village close to the border with Iraq has left 35 people dead, officials say.
One report said that smugglers had been spotted by unmanned drones and were mistaken for Kurdish rebels.
The attack, on Wednesday night, took place near the village of Uludere in Sirnak province in south-eastern Turkey, according to Dogan news agency.
The Turkish military said it had targeted suspected Kurdish militants.
In a statement, Turkey's general staff said the area attacked on Wednesday night was inside northern Iraq and had no civilian population. It added that the raid was launched following information that the group planned to attack Turkish security bases.
Provincial governor Vahdettin Ozkan said initially that more than 20 people had lost their lives but his office later clarified that 35 had been killed and one wounded.
"A crisis centre is being formed at the scene and prosecutors and security officers were sent there," he told Anatolia news agency.
The mayor of Uludere was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that all the victims had suffered from burns.
Local officials said drums of diesel carried by the group had exploded.
Those killed had been using mules to cross the border when the incident happened, they said. It was also reported that they had been smugglers returning to Turkey from Iraq.
"We were on our way back when the jets began to bomb us," a survivor, Servet Encu, told the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency.
Smuggling of fuel and cigarettes is said to be commonplace between villages along the Iraqi border. But rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have crossed the border into Turkey to stage attacks on Turkish forces.
After 24 Turkish soldiers were killed in PKK raids in October, Turkish forces responded with a series of air and ground attacks.
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