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DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Jan 20 (Reuters) -
Turkish security forces have killed five Kurdish
guerrillas in a clash in southeastern Turkey, a
security official said on Thursday.
Fighting broke out late on Wednesday in the
mountains of remote Sirnak province, near the Iraqi
border, and an operation against the rebels was
continuing, the official said.
The rebels belonged to the separatist Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), he said.
The PKK launched an armed campaign against the
Turkish state in 1984, and more than 30,000 people,
mostly Kurds, have been killed in the violence in
the mainly Kurdish southeast.
Fighting dropped off significantly in 1999 when
Turkey captured PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan, but
the PKK called off its unilateral ceasefire in 2004,
threatening to wreck the southeast's fragile peace.
Reuters
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