Five soldiers and two village guards were killed in clashes between outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists and Turkish security forces in Turkey’s southeast over the past two days.
One soldier and one village guard were killed and four soldiers were injured in a clash around Mount Tendürek in Ağrı’s Doğubeyazıt district in eastern Turkey on Wednesday while four soldiers and one village guard were killed in clashes in Van’s Çaldıran and Hakkari’s Şemdinli districts on Thursday, according to a statement from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
Nine PKK terrorists have also been killed during the clashes.
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.