Rebel Kurds kill 18 Turkish soldier

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl
Subject: Rebel Kurds kill 18 Turkish soldiers in ambush
Reply-To: kurdeng at aps.nl

 VT8339; Sat, 17 Jun 1995 17:23:35 -0800


Rebel Kurds kill 18 Turkish soldiers in ambush
Mon, 12 Jun 95

     ANKARA, Turkey (Reuter) - Separatist Kurdish rebels killed
at least 18 Turkish soldiers in a pre-dawn ambush in the rugged
eastern province of Tunceli Monday, officials said.
     Unconfirmed reports put the toll at 22 dead and two missing
in the attack in a deep gorge. It marked the heaviest loss by
government forces in a single action in nearly three months.
     Security officials in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir,
the center of security operations against the Kurdistan Workers
Party, or PKK, said at least three guerrillas were confirmed
killed in a clash which followed the ambush.
     But army sources in Tunceli said 16 rebels had died.
     The rebels struck near the village of Saritas in the Ahvanoz
gorge, a narrow valley densely covered with trees providing
natural cover to the ambushers. Ahvanoz is part of the Munzur
mountain range, spanning the north of the province.
     Saritas, some four miles from the gorge, is one of the
deserted villages of Tunceli where scores of settlements were
forcibly evacuated by soldiers as potential PKK shelters. Only a
military post and some elderly villagers remain in Saritas.
     Frequent clashes are reported from the southeast border
region, manned since May by extra troops withdrawn from northern
Iraq after a six-week incursion to destroy PKK bases there.
     The operation, criticized by the European Union, was
designed to set back the PKK in the area which it uses as a
springboard to launch attacks and reinforce its men inside
Turkey.
     The government, which refuses to deal with the PKK it brands
as ``terrorist,'' rejected a call for a cease-fire and a
political solution from PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan on May 23.
     Ankara said it would not give up the fight against the PKK.
     Turkey's Western allies sympathize with its stance against
the PKK but slam Ankara for reported human rights violations
involving Kurds, many for non-violent political activity.
     More than 16,000 people have been killed since the PKK
launched its insurgency in 1984.


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)