25 PKK members killed in clashes

ANKARA - At least 25 members of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) and two soldiers of Turkish security forces were killed in clashes in Turkey's southeastern Hakkari province on Tuesday, local newspaper Today's Zaman reported on Wednesday.

Turkish security forces and the PKK militants involved in skirmishes during a military operation by the Turkish army on Tuesday in Baglar and Zorgecit neighborhoods of Semdinli town of Hakkari, according to the report.

Semdinli town was the scene of fierce fighting between PKK rebels and Turkish troops last month, when up to 160 PKK members killed, said 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.