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ANKARA, June 17 (AFP) - 11h09 - Two armed
Kurdish rebels were killed in a clash with security
forces in the eastern province of Van in the latest
episode of renewed fighting in the region, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
The firefight erupted during a security sweep on
rural ground near the towns of Gurpinar and Baskale
against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), the agency said.
Tensions in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast and
east have escalated since last year when the PKK
ended a five-year unilateral ceasefire with the
government.
The group waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish
self-rule in the region between 1984 and 1999. The
conflict has claimed some 37,000 lives.
Turkish officials have warned that PKK militants
have begun to return to Turkey in large numbers from
northern Iraq, where many of them fled after the
1999 truce.
AFP
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