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DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, June 18 (AFP) - 9h52 -
Turkish forces backed by helicopters killed 17
far-left Maoist rebels in ongoing clashes in the
mountainous eastern province of Tunceli, the
provincial authorities said Saturday.
The fighting, the worst in recent years, occurred in
a remote valley, a hotbed of extreme-left as well as
Kurdish militancy.
The slain rebels were members of the underground
Maoist Communist Party (MKP), which aspires to
overthrow the government. Security sources who spoke
of nine dead Friday said they included senior
members of the group.
In a separate incident at Van, near the Iranian
border, Turkish troops killed two members of the
rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the
semi-official Anatolia news agency reported, quoting
local officials.
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, which
claimed some 37,000 lives.
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