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| Europe |
| 8 PKK rebels killed in southeastern Turkey |
| 2009-09-14 |
| (Xinhua) -- Eight rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) have been killed by the Turkish security forces in southeastern Turkey in the last four days, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. The security forces clashed with a group of the PKK militants in an operation on Sunday in Kazan Valley in Cukurca town of the southeastern province of Hakkari and killed three PKK militants, said the report. This result had brought the death toll of the PKK members in Hakkari province to eight in the last four days. The security forces also captured some weapons from the PKK militants during the operation, said the report. Established in 1978, the PKK took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts over the past two decades. Turkey's military forces have taken tougher actions against the PKK after the country's legislature gave the government mandate to launch cross-border operations against the rebels in northern Iraq in October 2007 and extended it in 2008. It is estimated that there are a total of 5,000 PKK militants, the majority of whom are holed up in northern Iraq where the PKK headquarters is situated. |
| Posted by:Fred |