- TUNCELI, Turkey: At least four members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed on Wednesday in clashes with the Turkish military in the mountainous province of Tunceli, security sources said.
Hundreds of Turkish soldiers are participating in the operation against PKK militants in the region of eastern Turkey, making it one of the largest in recent months.
The operation comes less than a week after the Turkish bombing of some 50 PKK targets in northern Iraq, from where the group launches attacks on military targets inside Turkey.
Earlier this month five Kurdish rebels and two Turkish soldiers were killed in violence following a PKK attack on a military command post near the border with Iran and Iraq.
Clashes between the PKK and Turkey's military have intensified since the spring thaw in the mountainous southeast.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 with the aim of creating a Kurdish homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country. More than 40,000 people have died in the conflict.