At least 60 people described as militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed during an anti-terror raid in southeast Turkey, state-run television reports. It is part of a months-long operation against the militant group.
The raid was carried out on late Sunday night when security forces entered the basement of a building in the town of Cizre, which is located in Şırnak province on the border with Syria. The state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) reported in a breaking news report that at least 60 “terrorists” had been killed in the raid.
According to the broadcast, more than 70 members of the PKK were hiding in the basement, and 60 of them were killed in clashes with security forces. The exact circumstances of the killings were not yet known, and it was unclear whether any members of the security forces were hurt.
Nearly 800 people described as terrorists have been killed in operations against the PKK in Cizre district since mid-December, and the government announced on Saturday that the operations were nearly finished. Several members of the security forces have also been killed.
The PKK, which has been labeled as a terrorist organizations by the United States, Turkey and the European Union, was established in 1984 in its efforts to establish the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey as an autonomous Kurdish state. More than 40,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed since the group took arms.
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