Tweet
DEATH TOLL IN KURDISH CLASHES WITH TURKISH SOLDIERS REACHES 26
PanARMENIAN.Net
June 19, 2012 - 21:22 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants clashed
on Tuesday, June 19 in the most intense battles of the separatist
conflict this year, with 26 combatants killed in fighting at three
army outposts in the southeast, officials and security sources said,
according to Reuters.
Up to 100 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched
simultaneous dawn attacks on three military observation points in
Hakkari province near Turkey's mountainous border with Iraq, killing
eight soldiers and wounding 19, the sources said.
In subsequent clashes, Turkish troops killed 18 PKK fighters, the
prime minister's office said.
The attacks come at a time when Turkey is making new efforts to
address the grievances of the Kurdish minority to end a conflict that
has scarred the region for three decades.
The head of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP),
whose members are frequently accused of ties to the rebels, made a
striking call for the PKK to halt hostilities.
The PKK fighters used rocket launchers and rifles at the start of
the attacks and operations were continuing against the militants,
the sources said. The militants were believed to have crossed the
border from nearby northern Iraq.
Several thousand PKK militants are based in mountain hideouts in
northern Iraq, from where they regularly launch attacks on state
targets in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.
Armed forces chief General Necdet Ozel rushed to the region, along
with the commanders of the ground forces and paramilitary gendarmerie,
Turkish media reported. The interior minister and a deputy prime
minister also headed there.
From: Baghdasarian
PanARMENIAN.Net
June 19, 2012 - 21:22 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants clashed
on Tuesday, June 19 in the most intense battles of the separatist
conflict this year, with 26 combatants killed in fighting at three
army outposts in the southeast, officials and security sources said,
according to Reuters.
Up to 100 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched
simultaneous dawn attacks on three military observation points in
Hakkari province near Turkey's mountainous border with Iraq, killing
eight soldiers and wounding 19, the sources said.
In subsequent clashes, Turkish troops killed 18 PKK fighters, the
prime minister's office said.
The attacks come at a time when Turkey is making new efforts to
address the grievances of the Kurdish minority to end a conflict that
has scarred the region for three decades.
The head of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP),
whose members are frequently accused of ties to the rebels, made a
striking call for the PKK to halt hostilities.
The PKK fighters used rocket launchers and rifles at the start of
the attacks and operations were continuing against the militants,
the sources said. The militants were believed to have crossed the
border from nearby northern Iraq.
Several thousand PKK militants are based in mountain hideouts in
northern Iraq, from where they regularly launch attacks on state
targets in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.
Armed forces chief General Necdet Ozel rushed to the region, along
with the commanders of the ground forces and paramilitary gendarmerie,
Turkish media reported. The interior minister and a deputy prime
minister also headed there.
From: Baghdasarian