Islam Times - Turkish troops kill 42 PKK fighters in clashes in southeast

Islam Times - Turkish soldiers backed by attack helicopters and other aircraft have killed 42 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) over three days of combat in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

The PKK militants were killed during clashes near the town of Semdinli on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, according to a statement issued by the Hakkari governor's office on Friday evening, Today's Zaman reported.

A Turkish soldier was also killed during the clashes, the statement added.

On November 6, Turkish warplanes killed two Iraqi civilians and injured three others in northern Iraq during operations targeting PKK militants.

“Two civilians were killed and three more wounded in a village in Rania by a Turkish airstrike,” said Jabbar Yawar, an official of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The incident occurred in the remote Qandil Mountains of the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, from where PKK fighters launch attacks on Turkey.

The Turkish military has been conducting airstrikes and artillery attacks on PKK positions in northern Iraq since it started a series of air raids on the militants' bases in December 2007 and a weeklong ground operation in February 2008.

Clashes between Turkish troops and PKK fighters have intensified in recent months.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region since the 1980s. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.