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DIYARBAKIR,
Turkey, July 6 (AFP) - 11h08 - A Kurdish rebel was
killed and two were seriously wounded in a clash in
the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin, a local
security source said Wednesday.
The source said the fighting erupted late Tuesday in
the province that borders Syria, but gave no other
details.
Violence in the region has sharply increased over
the past few months, after the PKK called off a
five-year unilateral ceasefire in June 2004 on
grounds that reforms undertaken by Ankara to expand
Kurdish freedoms were insufficient.
The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed about
37,000 lives, most of them between 1984 and 1999,
when the PKK waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish
self-rule in the region.
One Kurdish rebel killed, 2 hurt in Turkey clash
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, July 6 (Reuters) - One
Kurdish guerrilla was killed and two were seriously
wounded in a clash with Turkish troops in southeast
Turkey, military officials said on Wednesday.
The fighting occurred in a valley in Mardin province
during an operation launched on Tuesday evening
against militants from the separatist Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK).
In a separate clash in Siirt province, two
paramilitary police officers were wounded when PKK
fighters, armed with automatic rifles, attacked a
police station on Tuesday evening, the officials
said.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in
1984 to carve out an ethnic homeland. More than
30,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in the
ensuing conflict.
Fighting dropped off sharply after the 1999 capture
of PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan. But the end of the
PKK's unilateral ceasefire last year has seen a
steady increase in clashes.
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