Articles About Terrorist Activities

Turkish soldiers killed three Kurdish separatists in fighting in the south of the country, the army said Saturday, days after the separatists extended a unilateral ceasefire.

Fighting broke out Friday in a mountainous area in the southern province of Hatay, which borders Syria, when soldiers on patrol came across separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the General Staff said on its Web site.

An operation was under way to catch the fleeing separatists, it added.

The PKK announced Wednesday that it had extended a truce in its separatist campaign until Sept. 1 to help efforts to find a peaceful solution.

The extension was decided in anticipation of a “road map for a democratic solution” which jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is to propose in August, senior PKK member Murat Karayılan told the Europe-based pro-Kurdish Firat news agency.

Ankara has never formally recognized the PKK’s unilateral truces and the military has pursued operations against the separatists.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.

Souce: Hurriyet
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=three-separatists-killed-in-clashes-2009-07-19