DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, 12 September 2005 — Five soldiers were killed and three others wounded yesterday in clashes with Kurdish rebels in the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey, security officials said.
Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) opened fire with machine guns on Yeniyazi military police station in Bingol province, killing one soldier and wounding two others, said the officials in Diyarbakir, the main city in the Kurdish-dominated southeast. It was the first strike on an army position for several years in the region, which had been at the epicenter of fighting at the height of the Kurds’ armed campaign for self-rule. Two other clashes took place at Sirnak, in the southeast, near the border with Iraq, leaving four soldiers dead and one injured.
Fighting resumed in the region in June 2004 after the PKK called off a five-year truce, charging that Ankara had failed to do enough to improve freedoms for the Kurdish minority.
Last month, the PKK declared a one-month truce until Sept. 19, but the Turkish Army brushed aside the move and clashes in the region continue.
