Three people were killed on Tuesday when fighting broke out between Turkish troops and Kurdish separatist militants in the mostly Kurdish southeastern part of Turkey, NTV news television reported, cited by AFP.
Two Kurdish rebels and one Turkish soldier were reportedly killed in the incident in Bingol province. A second soldier was injured. Armed clashes between Kurds and government forces had all but halted after a cease-fire called three years ago by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) - since renamed the Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan (KADEK) - ending a 15-year conflict that had claimed around 35,000 lives.
However, tensions have been recently heightened by Ankara's concerns that US-led military intervention in neighboring Iraq may lead to the establishment of a Kurdish state in the north of the country and spur a push for similar autonomy from Turkey's own Kurdish population. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
