Two killed in clashes with PKK in southeast Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey: A Turkish soldier and a village guard were killed on Saturday in separate clashes with Kurdish rebels in Turkey´s restive southeast, local media reported.

The soldier died when fighting erupted in the Lice district of Diyarbakir province between security forces and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers´ Party (PKK), security sources told the official Anadolu news agency.

Another soldier was injured while one PKK militant was killed, Dogan news agency reported, adding that operations continued in 18 villages in the province where long curfews were imposed on Friday.

A village guard was killed in the foothills of Cudi Mountain in Sirnak province after rebels opened fire on security forces, Dogan said.

He was part of a group of locals cooperating with Turkish security forces to fight the PKK, listed as a terror group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.

Turkish war planes destroyed PKK shelters and areas where arms were stored on Friday in the Buzul mountains in Hakkari province on the border with northern Iraq, the chief of staff said in a statement, quoted by Anadolu.

Since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in 2015, there have been almost daily attacks with no let-up since the July 15 attempted coup tried to remove President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.