Turkish troops kill 10 Kurdish rebels in clash

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Turkish soldiers have killed 10 Kurdish guerrillas in a clash in a remote area of southeast Turkey.

The troops pursued militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in a rural area of Sirnak province neighbouring Iraq and were involved in a firefight after they failed to surrender.

The soldiers seized a rocket launcher, rifles, hand grenades and 25 kg of plastic explosives during the four-day operation, the Sirnak governor's office said in a statement.

The clash coincided with a bomb attack in western Turkey which killed five people and which officials have reportedly blamed on the PKK.

British Ambassador Peter Westmacott, visiting casualties from the bombing, told the BBC authorities believed the PKK had planted the bomb. A top PKK official has condemned the attack.

The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 with the aim of establishing an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey. More than 30,000 people have died in the conflict.

Violence tailed off after the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999, but has escalated again since the group called off a unilateral ceasefire in June last year.

- REUTERS