Turkish security forces kill 12 PKK rebels in southeastern Turkey

Turkish security forces killed 12 militants of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) during two operations conducted in southeastern Turkey, a military statement said on the website of Turkish General Staff on Saturday.

The statement said that the security forces wiped out the 12 PKK members, who were trying to sneak into Turkey along Iraqi border, during two separate operations staged in Uludere town of the southeastern province of Sirnak between May 12 and 14.

Earlier Saturday, a gendarmery private was killed in a landmine explosion, planted by the PKK militants, in mountainous region of Cukurca town of the southeastern province of Hakkari, the semi- official Anatolia news agency reported.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the PKK took up arms in 1984 in order to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the PKK for the past over two decades.

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