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DIYARBAKIR, Kurdistan-Turkey, Sept 15 (Reuters)
- Two Turkish soldiers were killed and six wounded
on Thursday when their vehicle hit a mine in
Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast near the borders
of Iraq and Iran, security sources said.
There has been an upsurge in violence in the restive
southeast with Turkish forces and Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) rebels fighting in the mountains and
demonstrations in the cities by rebel sympathisers
leading to clashes with police.
The military vehicle hit a PKK landmine in the
Semdinli region of Hakkari province close to where
the borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq meet.
The Turkish government has repeatedly demanded U.S.
and Iraqi forces do something to combat PKK forces
based around the Qandil Mountain in the far
northeast of Iraq from where rebel leaders direct
operations inside neighbouring Turkey.
U.S. military officials say they are too tied up
fighting the insurgency in Iraq to launch operations
against the PKK.
But U.S. President George W. Bush told Turkey's
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan that he had asked
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to take action
against the PKK.
"I spoke to Talabani today," Turkish media quoted
Bush as telling Erdogan on Wednesday on the
sidelines of a U.N. summit in New York. "I told him
Turkey was worried about the PKK in Iraq and it
would be good if you did something about it."
Some 30,000 people have been killed in the
21-year-old conflict with the PKK, which is fighting
for Kurdish home-rule in southeast Turkey. Turkish
forces have launched a number of operations into
northern Iraq against the PKK, but have so far
failed to fully quell rebel activity either in
Turkey or Iraq.
Reuters
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