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TUNCELI, Turkey (Reuters) - Three Turkish
soldiers were killed and eight wounded on Saturday
when their vehicle hit a landmine suspected of being
planted by Kurdish rebels in Turkey's southeast,
security sources said.
The soldiers were in Hakkari, a remote province
bordering Iran and Iraq. The military has launched a
sweeping operation along the full stretch of the
Iraqi border in Hakkari and the neighbouring
province of Sirnak, a military official said.
"A large-scale operation with between 3,000 and
4,000 troops backed by air support is continuing,"
he said.
Rebels from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party
have stepped up their attacks on military and
strategic targets after calling off their unilateral
ceasefire in June 2004.
In the last week, the PKK claimed responsibility for
two separate explosions that hit railway lines in
eastern Turkey. Six security guards died in the
first attack on a postal train.
"PKK militants are bringing C-4 plastic explosives
and other materials across the Iraqi border," the
official said. "They are engaging in the low-risk
tactic of detonating bombs and mines by remote
control in attacks on military vehicles in the
region."
The PKK launched an armed campaign against the
Turkish state in 1984 in a bid to establish an
ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
More than 30,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in
the conflict.
Violence fell off sharply with the 1999 capture of
PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan, now serving a life
sentence in a Turkish prison. But the end of the
ceasefire has threatened to wreck the impoverished
southeast's fragile peace.
The Interior Ministry said this week 164 PKK rebels
had been killed since the group called off the
truce.
Reuters
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