2 Turkish soldiers killed in clashes with PKK

Two soldiers of the Turkish security forces were killed and seven others wounded during the clashes in a military operation against the militants of outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey on Sunday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. The Turkish troops and the PKK rebels exchanged fire near the Ortaklar village of Semdinli town of Hakkari province, leaving this tragedy, said the report. Some PKK members may have been killed during the clashes in the large-scale military operation with the air support, according to the report. 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.