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Turkey arrests two Kurd rebels on attack
charges
3.12.2005
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DIYARBAKIR,
Kurdistan-Turkey, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Turkish
authorities have captured two members of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and charged
them with planning an attack on security forces in
southeast Turkey, officials said on Saturday.
The two were detained six days ago in the town of
Batman after trying unsuccessfully to lure security
forces into a trap by claiming that thieves were
stealing oil from a local pipeline, the security
officials said.
Police found two Kalashnikov rifles, hand grenades,
bomb making equipment and 500 grammes of explosives
with the men.
After confessing to their plan, the two were sent to
a detention centre pending their trial, they said.
Violence involving the security forces and PKK
guerrillas has risen sharply over the past year
after the rebels called off a six-year unilateral
ceasefire in their armed campaign for a separate
Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey.
Tensions have been running especially high since a
bombing on Nov. 9 in the town of Semdinli near the
Iraqi border widely blamed on elements in the
security forces suspected of trying to create
conditions for a military crackdown in the region.
A court has had three members of the paramilitary
gendarmerie -- responsible for rural security --
detained and Turkey's parliament has launched an
inquiry into the incident.
Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of more than
30,000 people, mostly Kurds, since it launched its
armed separatist campaign in 1984.
Violence has continued at a lower intensity since
the 1999 capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who
is now serving a life jail sentence on an island
near Istanbul.
Reuters
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