Kurdish Militants Killed in Southeast Turkey

Posted January 8th, 2013 at 11:05 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Twelve Kurdish militants and a Turkish soldier were killed in fighting along the country's southeast border.

Military officials say the rebels opened fire from northern Iraq and attacked a military post near the border late Monday night.

Turkish soldiers returned fire on the militants killing 12.

The attack comes as government officials hold talks with jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in an effort to end the nearly three-decade long insurgency.

Few details on the talks have been released, but Yalcin Akdogan, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said the goal is disarmament.

The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984. The conflict has claimed nearly 40,000 lives.

The rebels are fighting for autonomy and greater cultural rights.