At least five members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed after Turkish security forces carried out two separate counter-terrorism operations against the Kurdish militants in the country's southeastern province of Hakkari.
Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said police units mounted an offensive in the Gol Tepe area of the province, located 1,026 kilometers east of the capital Ankara, on Friday, killing two PKK members in the process.
Separately, three PKK militants were killed during a raid in the Siyah Tepe area of the same province.
Late on Thursday, seven paramilitary policemen, a soldier and a sergeant lost their lives when PKK militants launched an assault in the eastern province of Agri. Three soldiers and two civilians were also injured.
The clashes broke out after the security forces’ call for surrender was met with PKK gunfire near Gokcebulak village in Tendurek Mountain.
Turkish air force fighter jets later launched several airstrikes against PKK positions in the area.
A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015, and attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.
Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against PKK positions in northern Iraq and Syria.
The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.
