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ANKARA, Aug 27 (AFP) - 15h22 - Six rebels of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed
in three days of fighting with Turkish security
forces in the southeastern province of Batman, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
A gunfight erupted on rural ground near the town of
Besiri on Thursday when a group of PKK militants
responded with fire to calls to surrender, the
agency reported, citing anonymous local officials.
Five PKK rebels were shot dead in the clash while
one militant died of his injuries after being
captured, the report said.
The PKK's political group, KONGRA-GEL, announced a
one-month unilateral ceasefire on August 19 but
underlined that the rebels would continue to defend
themselves in the face of Turkish military
operations.
KONGRA-GEL said it was encouraged to announce the
truce following a landmark pledge by Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier in the month
to resolve the conflict with "more democracy".
The Turkish army has brushed aside the rebels'
truce, vowing to press ahead with the struggle to
crush the PKK, which is considered a terrorist
organisation by Turkey, the United States and the
European Union.
The PKK truce came after increasing bloodshed since
June 2004 when the PKK called off a five-year
unilateral truce on the grounds that steps taken by
Ankara to expand Kurdish freedoms were insufficient.
The conflict with the rebels has claimed some 37,000
lives since 1984, the year PKK militants first took
up arms in search of self-rule in Turkey's mainly
Kurdish southeast.
AFP
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