At Least 27 PKK militants killed in Turkey

At least 27 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'' Party (PKK) have been killed in southeastern Turkey in ongoing government operations against the terrorist group. Ankara said in a late Friday statement that the militants were killed in "a helicopter- and warplane-backed offensive" in Turkey''s Sirnak province which borders Iraq. Also five PKK members were detained in the five-day operation in the mountainous region, the statement added. Elsewhere on Wednesday, Turkish troops killed 21 more Kurdish militants in the nearby Diyarbakir province. Thousands of people have lost their lives since the PKK launched an armed campaign against Ankara in 1984 in a quest to form an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.