Turkish army killed 115 Kurdish rebels

Turkey's security forces have killed as many as 115 Kurdish rebels during a major security offensive over the past two weeks, the country's interior minister said.

Idris Naim Sahin on Sunday said the rebels were killed in an airpower backed offensive near the town of Semdinli, in Hakkari province which sits on the border with Iraq. He said the offensive began on 23^rd July.

Sahin provided few other details on the ongoing operation but said the security forces were trying to block the rebels' escape routes into northern Iraq.

Private NTV television said earlier that as many as 2,000 troops were taking part in the offensive and that public access to some roads in the area were blocked.

Earlier in the day, Kurdish rebels raided three military posts in simultaneous attacks in Hakkari, sparking a clash at one paramilitary outpost that left six soldiers and 14 rebels dead. Two government-paid village guards assisting the Turkish military were also killed.

The rebels fired on military posts in Hakkari province that borders Iraq, including the paramilitary station near the village of Gecimli, some 20 kilometers from the frontier, according to a statement from the Hakkari governor's office.

Gov Orhan Alimoglu said the attack near Gecimli triggered clashes that claimed the lives of 22 rebels, soldiers and village guards.

At least 15 soldiers, another village guard and five civilians were also injured in the attack. There were no reports of any casualties in the attacks on the other posts.

The attack comes some six weeks after a similar raid on a military unit, also in Hakkari province, killed 18 rebels and eight soldiers, prompting Turkey's military to send warplanes and attack helicopters to hit Kurdish rebel targets inside Iraq.

The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast region and maintain bases in northern Iraq from where they launch hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets.

The conflict between the PKK and Turkish government forces has killed tens of thousands of people since the rebels took up arms in 1984.

The group is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.

Turkey has raised concerns that Kurdish rebels could now also exploit a power vacuum in neighbouring Syria and warned it would "not tolerate" any rebel threats from the Syrian territory.