The Turkish security forces killed 46 members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), including 12 females, in a cross-border operation during the last days of 2012, local newspaper Today's Zaman reported on its website Wednesday.

Backed by Turkey's air strikes, the security forces killed 46 out of a total of 68 PKK militants who took shelter in the Kanires camp in northern Iraq, 10 kilometers away from the province of Hakkari in southeastern Turkey, according to the report.

The other 22 PKK members in the camp reportedly escaped from the operation, said the report, adding that the entire camp was destroyed by Turkish fighter jets.

The Turkish military launched the large-scale cross-border operation from Dec. 22 last year against PKK camps in northern Iraq and the operation still continued in the region.

Clashes intensified between the Turkish security forces and the PKK over the past two years, and 2012 saw the bloodiest fighting ever since the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999.

More than 40,000 people have been killed during the 28-year-old armed campaign in southeastern Turkey by the PKK, which was listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.