Army, PKK clashes leave 24 dead in SE Turkey: Source

Four Turkish soldiers and 20 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed in the latest clashes in the country’s volatile southeast over the past couple of days, a security source says.

The source, whose name was not released in reports, said on Sunday that the clashes broke out in Turkey’s mountainous Daglica region, situated near the Iraqi border, for several days.

The fighting also involved helicopters, according to the source.

The Daglica region has frequently witnessed clashes between the PKK militants and Turkish security forces.

Turkey has been engaged in one of its biggest military operations in the southern border region in the recent past. The Turkish military has been conducting offensive operations against the alleged positions of the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in northern Syria as well as those of the PKK in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 20 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, where over 30 people died. The Turkish government blamed Daesh for the bombing.

Ankara’s military campaign against the PKK voided a shaky ceasefire that had been declared in 2013.

The Turkish army’s confrontations with the PKK have claimed the lives of more than 1,700 PKK members as well as over 150 police and army soldiers.

On October 10, twin blasts targeted a number of activists who had convened outside Ankara’s main train station for a peace rally organized by leftist and pro-Kurdish opposition groups, killing over 100 people.

Following the incident, the PKK called on its members to halt militant activities in Turkey in honor of the victims of the bombings unless they are threatened by an attack.

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