4:3 Clashes with Kurdish rebel leaves at least 20 dead

(5 Aug 2012) STORYLINE:
Kurdish rebels raided three military posts in simultaneous attacks in eastern Turkey early on Sunday, sparking a clash at one paramilitary outpost that left six soldiers and 12 rebels dead, officials and news reports said.
Two government-paid village guards assisting the Turkish military were also killed.
The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK fired on military posts in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq, including the paramilitary station near the village of Gecimli, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border, according to local officials.
The attack near Gecimli triggered clashes that claimed the lives of 20 rebels, soldiers and village guards, authorities said.
The attack comes some six weeks after a similar raid on a military unit, also in Hakkari province, killed 18 rebels and eight soldiers, prompting Turkey's military to send warplanes and attack helicopters to hit Kurdish rebel targets inside Iraq.
The PKK, are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast region and maintain bases in northern Iraq from where they launch hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets.
The conflict between the PKK and Turkish government forces has killed tens of thousands of people since the rebels took up arms in 1984.
The group is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
An estimated 20 percent of Turkey's 75 million people are Kurds. The government is trying to reconcile with the Kurdish minority by granting it more cultural rights.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7b177275eaec5dd01a43cf574d6b7a51

Видео 4:3 Clashes with Kurdish rebel leaves at least 20 dead канала AP Archive