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15 soldiers killed in PKK attack in southeastern Turkey

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-04 19:28

ANKARA - A high-ranking Turkish military officer said on Saturday that 15 soldiers from the Turkish security forces were killed in a terrorist attack staged by the banned Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

Gen. Metin Gurak, Chairman of General Staff Communication Department, said at a press conference at the headquarters of the Turkish General Staff that the 15 soldiers lost their lives when the terrorist PKK organization attacked Aktutun Gendarmerie Border Unit in Semdinli town on Friday afternoon from north Iraq.

Twenty-three PKK militants were also killed in the clashes between the PKK and the security forces, he said, adding that efforts were underway to find two missing privates.

Gurak said the PKK militants attacked from north of Iraq with heavy weapons against Aktutun Gendarmerie Border Unit in Bayraktepe region.

"Two injured soldiers are sent to Ankara for treatment," Gurak said.

Turkey has conducted frequent air raids on suspected positions of the PKK in northern Iraq. In February, it also launched an eight-day ground incursion into Iraq.

The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.