WORLD> Middle East
A group of PKK rebels killed in northern Iraq: Turkish military
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-17 14:21

ANKARA  -- Turkish security forces killed a group of rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, a military statement said on Tuesday.

A statement posted on the General Staff's web-site said that the group of nearly 21 PKK militants had attempted to sneak into Turkey from northern Iraq late Monday.

The PKK rebels were shot and neutralized, added the statement.

The Turkish military has periodically bombed and shelled suspected PKK positions in Turkish-Iraqi border area during the past few months. In February, it launched an eight-day ground incursion into Iraq.

The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.