The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday that a total of 15 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists and one Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) member have been neutralized in four Turkish provinces.
According to the ministry statement, five PKK militants in Şırnak, five in Ağrı, five in Muş and one ISIL member in Mersin were neutralized by Turkish security forces.
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.