News / Turkey

One soldier, 6 PKK militants killed in Turkey southeast

Sunday, 15 May 2016 2:58 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 15 May 2016 2:58 PM ]

Turkish anti-riot police officers accompany men to fetch belongings from their homes in the historical district in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, on May 5, 2016. (AFP photo)

A Turkish soldier and six members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have been killed during a series of violent clashes in the country's volatile southeast, military sources say.

According to Turkish military sources, Turkish security forces on Sunday clashed with the PKK militants operating across the largely Kurdish-populated southeast.

The military, however, did not mention the exact location of the fierce fighting.

This came days after six Turkish soldiers were killed and eight others wounded in clashes with the militants in the Kurdish majority province of Hakkari on Friday. A military helicopter that had been sent to the region to support the soldiers crashed later in the day and its two pilots were killed.

The Turkish military has launched a large-scale military campaign against PKK militants in its southern border region since last year. The government has imposed curfew in the areas that have been targeted in the army’s anti-PKK campaign.

The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against the positions of the group in northern Iraq and Syria.

Mourners attend the funeral ceremonies of Turkish police officers, who were among seven killed the day before in a bomb attack on their vehicle in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir, on April 1, 2016, at the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara. (AFP photo)

Turkey’s operations against the militant group came after last July bombing in the southern town of Suruc. Over 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse the Turkish government of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The conflict has left thousands of people dead.

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