23 PKK terrorists killed in Turkey's latest retaliation: military

Turkish security forces killed another 23 terrorists from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) during Thursday raids, the General Staff said in a statement Friday.

“Three terrorists were killed in Nusaybin town of Mardin province; five terrorists in Şemdinli town of Hakkari," the General Staff said on its official site.

Şırnak has become the province where the highest numbers of terrorist fatalities have been reported during the operation. “The number of PKK members killed in the country's counter-terror raids has risen to 401 in the province," the military said, adding that the number of PKK terrorists, killed in Nusaybin, rose to 388 since the begining of the retaliatory operations.

Fifteen terrorists were killed in Wednesday's airstrikes on PKK targets both in the southeast and in northern Iraq. “The planes successfuly destroyed PKK targets such as shelters, caves, gun posts, and bunkers in Harkurk and Metina regions in northern Iraq and in the southeastern town of Semdinli," the military announced.

During operations in Nusaybin, security forces discovered 10 improvised explosives. Over the past 57 days, a total of 960 explosives were defused in the town.

In Wednesday's operations in Şırnak, security forces defused 13 improvised explosives. “In total, 1007 bombs were deactivated since the launch of sweeping operations in Şırnak," the military said.

PKK terrorists burned two another buildings in Şırnak before escaping on Wednesday. So far, a total of 115 buildings have been sset afire in the restive parts of the province.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU, resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July. More than 430 members of the security forces have also been killed since the resume of the bloody campaign that hit the country's southeastern part.

Officials in Ankara say that they are determined to remove the PKK threat.