Turkey: PKK fighters killed in attempt to storm base

[₩ăřņîñĞ]

Turkish military officials say the army has killed 35 Kurdish fighters after they attempted to storm a military base in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

The early morning attack on Saturday came just hours after clashes in Hakkari's Cukurca district between Turkish troops and fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that left eight soldiers dead, the officials said.

They said the fighters attempted to take the base in three different groups, but were spotted by aerial reconnaissance.

An air operation was subsequently launched, killing 23 fighters, the Turkish officials said.

Four more were then killed in a ground operation, they said, adding that the other eight Kurdish fighters were killed in Friday's gun battle in Cukurca.

Those clashes also left 25 soldiers wounded, the officials said.

Last week, Turkey's military launched air strikes against PKK members in northern Iraq, killing 20 fighters.

In the southeast, the military has frequently carried out air strikes after a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire and peace process between the government and the PKK broke down last summer.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK - designated a 'terrorist group' by Turkey, the US and the European Union - began its armed campaign in 1984.

Turkey carries out frequent attacks against PKK targets in Iraq's Kurdish-dominated regions near the Turkish border, where the PKK leadership has camps.

Turkey's military, NATO's second-largest, has continued to grapple with the low-intensity conflict in the mainly Kurdish southeast as its senior ranks undergo a major shake-up in following a July 15-16 failed coup.