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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| 19 Kurdish rebels, six soldiers killed in Turkey clashes, air raid |
| 2008-05-10 |
| At least 19 Kurdish rebels and six soldiers were killed overnight in clashes and a bombing raid in southeastern Turkey, the Turkish military said Saturday. Militants from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacked a military outpost in the province of Hakkari, which borders Iraq and Iran, killing two soldiers, the army said in a statement posted on its website. Turkish warplanes bombed the area in response, killing at least 19 militants, it said, adding in a second statement that another four soldiers died in ensuing clashes as the army pursued the rebels on the ground. The attack on the military outpost was carried out "to change the atmosphere of panic" among PKK ranks that followed Turkish air raids on rebel positions in neighbouring northern Iraq last week that "dealt the terrorist organisation a serious blow," it said. Turkey has stepped up military action against the PKK since December, carrying out several air strikes and a week-long ground incursion into northern Iraq, where it says more than 2,000 PKK rebels take refuge. Listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |