6 PKK members killed in southeastern Turkey

Clashes in the southeastern Turkish province of Bitlis Thursday led to the death of six members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), private Dogan News Agency reported.

The clashes erupted between security forces and the PKK as a group of Kurdish militants opened fire on a gendarmerie post in the town of Hizan.

Four wounded Turkish soldiers were hospitalized, said the report, adding that military operations continue to scout fleeing PKK members.

Also on Thursday, three people were killed and seven others injured in clashes between security forces and PKK members in the town of Yuksekova, in Turkey's southeastern province of Hakkari, Dogan reported.

A curfew was in force at the time of the clashes. The curfew, declared on Wednesday due to ongoing clashes, was later extended to the whole province of Hakkari.

Despite the curfew, a number of people protested amid reports of gunfire and explosions that lasted until the early hours of Thursday. Tear gas and water cannons were deployed to disperse protestors.

Tensions in the country boiled over in both eastern and southern Turkey amid the Turkish military's cross-border bombing campaign against PKK hideouts in northern Iraq.

The operations were followed by several attacks against security forces by the PKK inside Turkey, killing over 60 soldiers and police officers.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. More than 40,000 people have since been killed in conflicts involving the group. Endit