18/06/2010 17:28
Clashes between Turkish and Kurdish forces: one killed
A Kurdish militant has been killed and two others captured in clashes with the security forces in northeast Turkey, AFP reported citing officials.
The fighting between rebels and Turkish forces took place late Thursday on a road linking the province of Gumushane to neighbouring Erzincan, the Anatolia news agency quotes Gumushane’s Governor Enver Salihoglu as saying.
Enver Salihoglu described the militants as "terrorists"; however, he avoided to name any group. Meanwhile an official from the governor's office told AFP that the rebels belonged to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but he said can’t give other details.
Turkey's military officials said Friday that it had killed as many as 120 Kurdish rebels in an air raid on rebel hideouts in northern Iraq over last month. At least 130 Kurdish rebels have been killed since March in military operations inside Turkey and neighbouring Iraq.
The rebels have been starting their struggle since 1984, sparking a conflict with Ankara that has claimed some 45,000 lives.