Clashes persist in Turkey's southeast; PKK militants killed in attack on police
Three Kurdish rebels were killed in clashes with police in Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir December 24, security sources said, and shots and shellfire could be heard around an area that has been focus of an army offensive against rebels.
Turkish police fired tear gas and sprayed water on hundreds of people after they attempted to march toward the city center carrying the coffin of two Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants killed in another incident this week.
The three were killed in clashes with special forces in Diyarbakir's Yenisehir district after the PKK launched an attack on security forces, security sources said.
Four mainly Kurdish southeastern towns that have seen heavy fighting since Turkey launched an offensive 10 days ago against the militants remained under curfew, with Diyarbakir's historic district of Sur entering its 21th day under the ban.
Figures from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) show at least 31 civilians have been killed in fighting, while state media said 168 PKK militants were killed during the campaign, backed by tanks and thousands of troops.
Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast has been engulfed in clashes since a two-year ceasefire between the PKK and Ankara fell apart in July, reviving a conflict that has crippled the region for three decades, killing more than 40,000 people.