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Soldier killed by mine in southeast Turkey
12.5.2006
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ANKARA, May 12,
2006 - A Turkish soldier was killed Friday
when he stepped on a landmine believed to have been
planted by Kurdish rebels,
southeast of the country, the Anatolia news agency
reported.
The explosion happened during a security sweep
against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
on rural ground near Cukurca, Hakkari province,
which lies close to the border with Iraq, the agency
said.
Additional forces were dispatched to the region
against a possible PKK attack.
Landmine attacks have become a hallmark of PKK
violence since the group called off a five-year
unilateral ceasefire in June 2004 and the rebels
started to penetrate Turkey from their bases in
northern Iraq.
The Turkish army has recently amassed troops in the
southeast, in areas along the borders with Iraq and
Iran, to crack down on militants who cross over into
Turkey with increasing frequency in the spring.
Turkey says an estimated 5,000 PKK rebels have found
refuge in northern Iraq since 1999 when the group --
considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the
United States and the European Union -- declared the
ceasefire and withdrew from Turkey.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984
when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
mainly Kurdish-populated southeast of Turkey.
AFP
Southeastern Turkey: Northern Kurdistan, known as (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
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