PKK rebels killed in recent Turkish operations

Some 110 militants were killed within 6 days of fighting, the army said. France 24 reported that at least two Turkish soldiers and five civilians were also killed in the clashes.

Turkey has stepped up security operations in the mainly Kurdish towns of Silope and Cizre, both under curfew since December 14.

Meanwhile hundreds of people seeking to march from the main provincial centre of Sirnak to Silopi and Cizre were blocked by police who used tear gas, pro-Kurdish media said.

A report by Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged Turkish authorities to scale back security operations in Kurdish areas in the southeast, warning of rapidly rising casualties among civilians.

The operation involves some 10,000 heavily armed troops backed by tanks have been deployed in the southeast region. Security forces dispersed the crowds with tear gas and water cannons, while some protesters responded by hurling rocks.

It was not clear what organization the two females belonged to, but the district they were killed in is known as a stronghold for the supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the ultra-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).

The conflict has surged again since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July.

The settlement process was launched by the government in cooperation with the jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, to settle the country’s long-standing terrorism problem and the Kurdish issue in the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeastern provinces.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke during the fourth general congress of the Justice and Development (AK) Party’s youth branch in Ankara Arena Hall. In recent years the PKK has been pressing for greater autonomy and rights for the Kurds, Turkey’s largest minority.

Since July, local rights groups have recorded more than 100 civilian deaths and multiple injuries of Kurdish civilians.

On Tuesday, Turkish tanks shelled Kurdish opposition targets in the southeastern town of Cizre, which has been at the focus of the government’s military campaign, Reuters reported.

“Turkey faces a critical choice: to advance its military strategy against the PKK in a fight that is bound to be protracted and inconclusive, or to resume peace talks”.

Demirtas accused the government and military of targeting citizens who were presented as “terrorists”.