TURKEY: Turkish army says 11 PKK members killed while kidnapped tourists remain inside Turkish borders

Record ID: 588854

  • Title: TURKEY: Turkish army says 11 PKK members killed while kidnapped tourists remain inside Turkish borders
  • Date: 16th July 2008
  • Summary: (W3) DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY (JULY 16, 2008) (REUTERS) FIGHTER JET TAKING OFF FIGHTER JET IN THE AIR HELICOPTERS FLYING
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA37XVTTP48RFMMO8ZYN92KFOQ9
  • Story Text: Turkish soldiers have killed 11 Kurdish guerrillas in an operation in the south-eastern Turkish province of Hakkari, Turkey's military said on Wednesday (July 16).
    The operation was launched on Sunday (July 13) after security forces identified a group of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in a mountainous area near the Iraqi border.
    The operation, backed by attack helicopters and other aircraft, was continuing, the military said on its Web site.
    Including an operation in the neighbouring province of Sirnak, a total 33 PKK rebels have been killed in clashes in the last five days, the statement said. The figures could not be verified.
    Also Agri province governor Mehmet Cetin said they got information about PKK rebels who took 3 German citizens as hostages. Cetin said the group is still inside Turkish borders and the health conditions are fine.
    "With the information that we gathered, I can clearly say that the terrorist group is still in Agri mountain region with their hostages"
    said Cetin.
    Kidnapping tourists is a rare tactic for the outlawed separatist PKK whose activities are mainly focused on attacking military targets in southeast Turkey. However it did carry out kidnappings during the height of the conflict in the 1990s.
    Agri province, which borders Iran, is to the north of the main PKK conflict region and is a popular destination for mountain climbers. Mount Ararat is seald as army forces searches for the kidnapped climbers.
    Last month Germany banned Kurdish television station Roj TV, which Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble described as being a mouthpiece of the PKK.
    Germany extradited two PKK militants to Turkey last year.
    PKK fighters regularly enter Turkey from the mountains of northern Iraq, where several thousand of the militants are based. This year the Turkish armed forces have launched a series of raids against the group in northern Iraq.
    The PKK, regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.
    Some 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
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