10 PKK terrorists killed in recent operations in Hakkari: military

The General Staff declared that a total of 10 PKK terrorists were killed in the most recent operations, which were carried out in the two districts, near the province of Hakkari, in southeastern Turkey.

“During the conflict which broke out in the province, two terrorists of the separatist organization were killed in Yüksekova and eight terrorists in Şemdinli," General Staff said on its official site.

According to the statement, three landmines, home-made explosives, were destroyed by the security forces in restive Yüksekova, which has often been a scene of clashes with the separatist group. The military also hit a cave, used by the PKK as a hideout in remote Yüksekova, rendering it unfit as a shelter.

During the operation which took place in Şemdinli, eight members of the terrorist organization, who were involved in attacks on the 34th Border Brigade Command barracks, district police department, district military police command and the Şapatan Military Police Station Command, were neutralized.

In recent months, Turkey has stepped up reprisal attacks against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. A ceasefire in the long-running conflict with the armed group broke in July after the PKK resumed its violence campaign following the deadly suicide bombing in Suruç near the Syrian border.

Turkey's retaliatory strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq had begun on July 23, a day after two police officers were found dead at their home in Şanlıurfa, in the southeast, in an attack, which was later claimed by the outlawed organization.

Like Turkey, both the US and EU list the PKK as a terrorist organization. The PKK began a bloody campaign for a Kurdish-self-rule in the Southeast in the early 1980s. Some 40,000 people, including security forces and civilians, have been killed during the campaign.