Kurdish rebels stormed a Turkish army post on the Iraq border Sunday, triggering fighting that killed 20 people in the latest clash since Ankara launched a major offensive against the outlawed PKK.
Six soldiers, two village guards and 12 Kurdish rebels were killed following the assault on an army post in a village in the southeastern province of Hakkari, the local governor's office said in a statement.
Another 15 soldiers, one village guard and five civilians were wounded, according to the statement cited by the Anatolia news agency.
The rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) launched simultaneous assaults on three border posts but the casualties occurred at a post in the village of Gecimli village, the private TV television station reported.
It was the deadliest clash since June when fighting between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels left 28 people dead following a similar attack on an army post in the same region.
Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said after Sunday's attack that Turkey's fight against "terrorism" would continue.
A series of similar assaults against troops in the Kurdish-dominated southeast prompted the army to launch an all-out offensive against PKK bases in the area last month.
The Turkish ground and air operation, one of the biggest in years, is focused on the town of Semdinli, in Hakkari province, and NTV television said about 2,000 troops are involved.
"A serious and strong operation is under way in Semdinli," Atalay said last week.
The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in the southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.
Turkey's latest offensive against the PKK comes as Kurds in northern Syria are reported to have taken control of some regions as fighting escalates in the uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Damascus of allowing Kurdish rebels a free hand in the north of the country and warned that Ankara would not hesitate to strike "terrorists".
Ankara claims some of the Kurdish rebels in Syria were forced to move there from hideouts in mountainous zones of northern Iraq after the Turkish army carried out several air strikes in the area.
The reported control of northern Syria by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the PKK's Syrian ally, has pushed Ankara to take diplomatic and military steps to neutralise what it sees as any potential threat.
Turkey has massed a convoy of tanks, weapons and ground-to-air missile batteries on the border with Syria and staged military drills, which have been seen by the media as a show of force against Damascus.
Ties between one-time allies Ankara and Damascus have soured since Assad's regime launched a brutal crackdown on dissent in March last year.
Relations hit an all-time low after a Turkish fighter jet was brought down by Syrian fire in June, killing its two pilots and leading Ankara to brand Damascus a "hostile" opponent.
Damascus counters Turkish accusations with claims that Ankara is supporting "terrorists" to bring down the Syrian regime down, referring to the Free Syrian Army of defecting soldiers which is based on Turkish soil near the border.
Last week, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited northern Iraq for talks with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani about the situation in northern Syria.
"The new Syria should be free of any terrorist and extremist group or organisation," the two said in a rare joint statement.
Although Turkey has built ties with the Kurdish regional government in the north of Iraq, Ankara is opposed to the idea of a separate Kurdish state.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fighting-between-kurd-rebels-turkish-army-kills-19-105703542.html
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