Five Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists were killed on Saturday by Turkish security forces in Tunceli province, while two others died in an overnight clash, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
According to the report, security forces killed five terrorists in an operation supported by the air force in the Ovacık district after PKK terrorists attacked a military outpost in the area.
Two more terrorists were killed overnight in the same district during clashes that erupted when a group of 35 to 40 terrorists were trying to infiltrate the city of Ovacık.
Turkish authorities had conducted direct talks with jailed PKK chief Abdullah Öcalan for several years until a truce in effect collapsed in the summer of 2015. Since then, there have been heavy clashes between the PKK and Turkish security forces.
More than 40,000 people, including 5,500 security force members, have been killed in four decades of fighting between the Turkish state and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.