03-09-2012 - 16:12 Last updated 03-09-2012 - 16:12 |
Kurdish rebels wielding rocket launchers and machine-guns attacked a security base in southeast Turkey, triggering a firefight that left 30 people dead, local officials said Monday.
Ten soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the attack in the province of Sirnak, the local government said, while other sources said about 20 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were also killed, Agence France Presse reported.
“A wounded Turkish troop died at a hospital on Monday after a string of simultaneous terrorist attacks on military checkpoints in southeastern Turkey late on Sunday, bringing the total number of troop casualties to ten, Anadolu news agency said.
Provincial governor Vahdettin Ozkan said the militants had attacked the security complex at Beytussebap, which lies about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Iraqi border, late Sunday.
Police and soldiers returned fire, triggering some of the deadliest clashes with the rebels seen in months.
The government had launched a large-scale military offensive against the PKK on July 23 that it said early last month had killed a total of 115 Kurdish rebels.
In one of the deadliest recent single incidents, fighting in June between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels killed 28 people after an attack by PKK members on an army post near the Iraqi border.
The PKK has stepped up its assaults against Turkish security forces in recent months, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened military intervention if the Kurdish rebels set up bases in Syria.
The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.
10 Turkish soldiers killed in clashes with PKK
(Reuters) - "...Ten soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the attack in the province of Sirnak, the local government said, while other local sources said about 20 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were also killed.Provincial governor Vahdettin Ozkan said the militants had attacked the security complex at Beytussebap late Sunday, killing nine members of the security forces and wounding eight. His office later said that one of those wounded had died.
Police and soldiers returned fire, triggering fierce clashes..."
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