Turkish forces kill 32 PKK militants in eastern province
At least 32 militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed after Turkish forces attacked their position in the eastern province of Van.
According to media reports, security forces carried out a raid on a house in Van that was used by PKK militants as a base on Sunday.
The Kurdish militants were killed in the ensuing exchange of fire that also left one police officer dead and two others injured.
This came after the army said Turkish security forces killed 18 militants and arrested dozens others on Friday and Saturday in several southeastern towns that are under curfew.
Ankara has been involved in a large-scale military campaign against PKK militants in the Kurdish-majority south and southeast of the country over the past few months.
The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 20, 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, an ethnically Kurdish town located close to border with Syria. Over 30 people died in the Suruc attack, which the Turkish government blamed on Daesh Takfiri terrorists.
After the bombing, the PKK, accusing the government of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations.
On January 7, the Turkish said 305 PKK militants have been killed since December 14, 2015, when it intensified its operations against the militant group, which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since 1980s.
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