Turkish Troops Kill Five Kurdish Rebels

A female supporter of the Kurdistan Workers Party in Syria (file photo) (AFP)

24 February 2006 -- Turkish security forces have killed five suspected Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country.

Turkey's Anatolia news agency said the five were killed in a gun battle in the province of Mardin late on 23 February.

The five were reportedly members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey in 1984.

(Reuters, AP)