8 PKK members killed in clash with Turkish security forces

Eight members of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in a clash with the Turkish security forces in Bingol province in eastern Turkey on Saturday, private Dogan news agency reported. According to a tip-off, the Turkish security forces Saturday morning launched a military operation to fight a group of PKK rebels in Genc town of Bingol province with air support, said the report, adding that the security forces asked the PKK militants for surrender. The clash erupted between the security forces and the PKK militants, leaving eight PKK members including four women dead, said the report. Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the PKK took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Over 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts fuelled by PKK's separatist campaign in Turkey.