Turkish Military Kills 99 Kurdish Militants

Turkish security forces have killed 99 Kurdish militants, including a high-ranking one, in operations in southeast Turkey over the last two weeks, according to Ankara officials.

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Security forces targeted outposts and caves used by the militants for shelter and storage in the southeastern provinces of Sirnak and Hakkari, near the Iraqi border, the military said in a statement.

“Ninety-nine terrorists have been neutralized. One is in the so-called leading ranks,” it said.

Six soldiers were killed and 17 others were wounded during the operations, it added. 

The operations, which were carried out between Aug. 24 and Sept. 7, also led to the seizure of 420 kg of ammonium nitrate, used to make explosives, as well as bombs, guns and rifles, the military said.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, which seeks autonomy for the largely Kurdish southeast, has waged a more than three-decade insurgency against the state. The United States, Turkey and the European Union consider it a "terrorist organization."

In December, a bomb killed at least 13 soldiers and wounded more than 50 when it ripped through a bus carrying off-duty military personnel in the central city of Kayseri, an attack the government blamed on Kurdish militants.

The PKK’s bases in the mountains on both sides of the Turkey-Iraq border are frequently targeted by Turkish security forces.