2 PKK rebels killed in clash with troops in southeastern Turkey

Two members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed and another was injured while trying to enter Turkey from Syria Tuesday, local newspaper Today's Zaman reported on its website. A clash between the PKK militants and the Turkish security forces broke out when the PKK militants opened fire at a nearby military outpost in Kiziltepe town of Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin, leaving two PKK militants dead. The injured PKK rebel was believed to have fled to Syria, said the report. Meanwhile, a group of PKK members opened fire at a gendarmerie post in the eastern province of Tunceli on Monday evening, said the report, adding that Turkish troops responded with fire and the PKK rebels later fled the scene. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Since then, over 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the group.