Daily Times

ANKARA: One soldier and two Kurdish rebels were killed in clashes on Saturday in Turkey’s restive southeast, the Turkish army said.

Two soldiers were also wounded in the fighting in the Daglica region of Hakkari province near the Iraqi border, the army said on its website. “Our hero comrade fell martyr during the armed clashes with the terrorists,” the army said, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies.

It said two ‘terrorists’ were killed, adding there was an ongoing operation to hunt PKK rebels in the region. Six Turkish soldiers were killed on Friday in a clash with Kurdish militants in the Cukurca district of Hakkari while two more lost their lives when a military helicopter sent to the scene crashed.

Turkey has been waging an offensive against the PKK after the collapse in 2015 of a two-year ceasefire declared by the group. Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have been killed in attacks since. Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding a homeland for Turkey’s biggest minority. Since then, the group has pared back its demands to focus on cultural rights and a measure of autonomy.