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DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, May 18 (AFP) - 18h05 - Two
alleged Kurdish would-be suicide bombers and a
Turkish soldier were killed Wednesday, in the latest
episode of renewed tensions between Kurdish rebels
and the Turkish authorities, officials and media
reports said.
In the eastern province of Erzincan, soldiers shot
dead two suspected militants from the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and when checking the
dead bodies afterwards discovered that they were
wrapped in explosives, the NTV news channel
reported.
Local officials were not immediately available for
comment.
In the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, PKK
militants opened fire on a group of paramilitary
troops combing a rural area near the town of Silvan,
killing one soldier, security sources said.
Tensions in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast
have escalated since last year when the PKK ended a
five-year unilateral ceasefire with the government.
On Tuesday, four soldiers were killed in a landmine
explosion, blamed on the PKK, while two soldiers and
two rebels were killed in fighting.
The PKK waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish
self-rule in the region between 1984 and 1999. The
conflict has claimed some 37,000 lives.
The Turkish army warned last week that an increasing
number of PKK militants were sneaking back into
Turkey from neighboring northern Iraq, where they
had retreated after the 1999 truce, bringing along
large amounts of explosives.
AFP
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