Eight soldiers killed in Kurdish rebel attack
(AFP) ANKARA — Eight Turkish soldiers were killed overnight in an attack on an army post by Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey, near the border with Iraq, the army said Saturday.
The attack blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) took place at a military post near the city of Semdinli close to the Iraqi border, and also left 14 soldiers wounded, the army said in an online statement.
The military responded with helicopters and reportedly killed 12 rebels, the army statement added.
Fighter jets then launched a bombing raid targeting PKK rebel positions in northern Iraq where the separatists have rear bases, the military said.
On Friday the Turkish military announced that at least 130 members of the PKK had been killed inside Turkey and in an air raid on rebel hideouts in Iraq since violence flared anew in March. The military had lost 43 personnel.
The military also said it expected the PKK to further intensify and spread its attacks.
The mounting violence in recent months has clouded the government's bid to seek a peaceful end to the 26-year-old conflict with Kurdish rebels seeking a separate homeland in the country's southeast.
The conflict with the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community, has claimed more than 45,000 lives since it began in 1984, according to the army.
The attack blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) took place at a military post near the city of Semdinli close to the Iraqi border, and also left 14 soldiers wounded, the army said in an online statement.
The military responded with helicopters and reportedly killed 12 rebels, the army statement added.
Fighter jets then launched a bombing raid targeting PKK rebel positions in northern Iraq where the separatists have rear bases, the military said.
On Friday the Turkish military announced that at least 130 members of the PKK had been killed inside Turkey and in an air raid on rebel hideouts in Iraq since violence flared anew in March. The military had lost 43 personnel.
The military also said it expected the PKK to further intensify and spread its attacks.
The mounting violence in recent months has clouded the government's bid to seek a peaceful end to the 26-year-old conflict with Kurdish rebels seeking a separate homeland in the country's southeast.
The conflict with the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community, has claimed more than 45,000 lives since it began in 1984, according to the army.
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