17 die in clashes with Kurd rebels
TUNCELI, TURKEY — Sixteen Kurdish separatist guerrillas and a soldier have been killed in clashes in Turkey’s restive southeast, security forces said Monday.
The fatalities occurred Sunday and Monday in separate incidents during a military offensive in the mainly Kurdish region that involved 10,000 troops against the rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
Thirteen of the PKK militants were killed in the province of Tunceli, two in Hakkari and one in Siirt. They were the latest in a series of clashes in recent weeks.
Spring usually sees an increase in violence, as the mountain snows melt and more rebels cross into Turkish territory from hide-outs in northern Iraq.
Last week, the head of Turkey’s powerful military, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, called for an offensive against the rebels in northern Iraq, saying U.S. forces and the Baghdad government had failed to act against them despite Ankara’s repeated pleas.
More than 30,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched its armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.
The U.S. and the European Union, like Turkey, classify the PKK as a terrorist organization.
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