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ANKARA, Sept 24 (AFP) - 15h06 - Turkish security
forces have killed three rebels from the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the country's east
and southeast, the Anatolia news agency reported
Saturday.
One PKK militant was killed near the eastern
Dogubayazit town, several kilometers from the border
with Iran, in a shootout which erupted when he
responded with fire to calls to surrender, the
agency said.
A second rebel was killed in a clash on rural ground
in Tunceli province in the east, while a third was
shot dead during an ongoing security operation in a
mountainous area in the southeastern province of
Sirnak, which borders Iraq.
The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by
Ankara as well as the United States and the European
Union, has waged a bloody separatist campaign in
Turkey's eastern and southeastern provinces since
1984, with the conflict claiming some 37,000 lives.
Unrest in the region has markedly escalated over the
past few months after the PKK called off a five-year
unilateral ceasefire in June 2004.
On Wednesday, the group extended a month-long truce
it had proclaimed on August 20 to October 3.
Security forces, however, have brushed this aside
and clashes in the region continue.
AFP
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