ANKARA (Sputnik) — A total of 28 militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in 24 hours in clashes with the Turkish army in the country's southeast, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Over 24 hours, 16 members of separatist terrorist organization [PKK] were killed in Sirnak [province], nine in [the city of] Nusaybin [on the Syrian border] and three in [the southeastern city of] Yuksekova," the statement reads.
According to the general staff, homemade bombs, explosives, hand grenades, grenade launchers, machine guns and a large amount of ammunition were seized from the militants.
The standoff between the Turkish government and the PKK, outlawed by Ankara, has claimed the lives of 300 soldiers and police officers since it erupted anew in July 2015.
According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, over 5,000 Kurdish insurgents were killed in an anti-terror campaign since mid-December, a figure that pro-Kurdish officials argue includes hundreds of civilians.
