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Three soldiers killed by mine in eastern Turkey

30 Jun 2007 18:12:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

TUNCELI, Turkey, June 30, (Reuters) - Three Turkish soldiers were killed on Saturday by a landmine set by Kurdish rebels in Turkey's eastern Tunceli province, security forces said.

The incident occurred during a clash between troops and members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) after the separatists barricaded a road between the provinces of Erzincan and Tunceli on Friday.

The deaths came days after Turkey's top army general repeated his call on the government to allow a cross-border operation into nearby northern Iraq to crush PKK camps there.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was quoted on Friday as saying plans had been drawn up for such an incursion but it remains unclear whether the government will give the green light.

The United States, Turkey's NATO ally, and the Baghdad government have both urged Ankara not to send troops across the border, fearing destabilisation of Iraq's most stable region.

But the government, which faces elections in July, is under heavy domestic pressure to take tough action as the death toll among soldiers and security forces mounts.

Ankara holds the PKK responsible for 30,000 deaths since the group began its armed campaign for a Kurdish homeland in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region in 1984.

Turkey considers the organisation a terrorist group as do the United States and the European Union.

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Last updated:Sat Jun 30 18:12:49 2007