The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Monday that a total of 22 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists have been killed, 10 militants surrendered and two were captured by security forces across Turkey over the past week.
According to the ministry statement, Turkish security forces detained 127 people on charges of aiding and abetting the PKK during the operations between Aug. 21 and Aug. 28.
A total of 44 Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members were also detained in the one-week period.
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.