27 Dead in Turkey's Latest Operation against Kurdish Rebels
At least 26 Kurdish rebels and a Turkish soldier have been killed in Ankara's latest operation against Kurdish separatists in the country's southeast, Anatolia news agency reported Friday.
Local security officials earlier said 18 rebels and a Turkish soldier had died.
Thousands of ground troops, police forces and village guards participated in the operation, which was launched late Wednesday in the mountainous area in the Sirnak province near the Iraqi border.
Helicopter gunships, F-16 fighter jets and ground troops targeted rebel hideouts in the region, the stronghold of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and sources said jets also bombed rebel bases inside Iraq just across the border.
Ankara launched the offensive after a spike in deadly Kurdish rebel attacks that have claimed dozens of lives in recent months across Turkey.
Late Sunday, rebels armed with rocket launchers and machine guns attacked a security complex near Beytussebap, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Iraqi border, triggering a firefight that left 30 people dead, 10 of them soldiers.
Some government officials believe that Syria's embattled regime is helping the PKK in retaliation for Turkey's support for rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's forces.
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.
Source: Agence France Presse
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