Idris Naim Sahin on
Sunday said the rebels were killed in an airpower backed offensive near
the town of Semdinli, in Hakkari province which sits on the border with
Iraq. He said the offensive began on 23rd July.
Sahin
provided few other details on the ongoing operation but said the
security forces were trying to block the rebels' escape routes into
northern Iraq.
Private
NTV television said earlier that as many as 2,000 troops were taking
part in the offensive and that public access to some roads in the area
were blocked.
Earlier
in the day, Kurdish rebels raided three military posts in simultaneous
attacks in Hakkari, sparking a clash at one paramilitary outpost that
left six soldiers and 14 rebels dead. Two government-paid village guards
assisting the Turkish military were also killed.
The rebels fired on
military posts in Hakkari province that borders Iraq, including the
paramilitary station near the village of Gecimli, some 20 kilometers
from the frontier, according to a statement from the Hakkari governor's
office.
Gov
Orhan Alimoglu said the attack near Gecimli triggered clashes that
claimed the lives of 22 rebels, soldiers and village guards.
At
least 15 soldiers, another village guard and five civilians were also
injured in the attack. There were no reports of any casualties in the
attacks on the other posts.
The
attack comes some six weeks after a similar raid on a military unit,
also in Hakkari province, killed 18 rebels and eight soldiers, prompting
Turkey's military to send warplanes and attack helicopters to hit
Kurdish rebel targets inside Iraq.
The rebels of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's
Kurdish-dominated southeast region and maintain bases in northern Iraq
from where they launch hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets.
The
conflict between the PKK and Turkish government forces has killed tens
of thousands of people since the rebels took up arms in 1984.
The group is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
Turkey
has raised concerns that Kurdish rebels could now also exploit a power
vacuum in neighbouring Syria and warned it would "not tolerate" any
rebel threats from the Syrian territory.
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