The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Monday that a total of 43 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists have been neutralized across Turkey over the past week, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
According to the ministry statement, Turkish security forces killed 28 PKK members and detained one. Fourteen PKK members surrendered to security forces in the same period.
In the meantime, police on Monday detained 11 people as part of operations targeting youth branches of the PKK in Ankara. Police are continuing operations to detain other four members who are at large.
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.