1st LD: 54 PKK rebels killed in military operations in SE Turkey
Xinhua, December 18, 2015 Adjust font size:
A total of 54 rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in three-day military operations in southeastern Turkey, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported on Friday.
The operations were ongoing against the PKK in the towns of Silopi and Cizre in southeastern Sirnak province, Governor Ali Ihsan Su was quoted as saying on Thursday.
"Curfew will continue for the security of life and property of our citizens," said Su.
A new curfew was declared in Silopi and Cizre on Monday and many citizens had reportedly left the town before the curfew was imposed.
On Tuesday, a group of PKK members staged a bomb attack against a Turkish police armored vehicle on Diyarbakir-Silvan highway in Silvan town of Diyarbakir province in southeastern Tureky, leaving five policemen wounded who later died in hospital, private Dogan news agency reported.
The PKK negotiated a cease-fire with Ankara in 2013, but the truce fell apart in the wake of a suicide bomb attack on July 20, which killed 33 pro-Kurdish and left-wing activists in the border town of Suruc in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa.
Tensions have been running high, especially in southeastern Turkey, as major military operations against PKK militants have been under way since July after a truce failed.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. Endit