Turkish Armed Forces Kill Nearly 100 PKK Militants Within Last Two Weeks

Turkish forces have eliminated roughly 100 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party in the last two weeks in the country's southeastern provinces, the Turkish General Staff said Saturday.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — The General Staff said in a statement that nearly a hundred Kurdish militants in the southeastern region of the country had been eliminated.

"Between August 24 and September 7, a total of 99 terrorists, including one of their leaders, were killed during operations carried out against the separatist terrorist organization [PKK] in Sirnak and Hakkari provinces," the statement read.

The statement specified that PKK shelters, weapons and ammunition were also destroyed during the combat operations.

In light of intensified assaults by PKK militants the Turkish authorities launched the construction of a 10-foot high wall in eastern Agri province this summer. As local media reports, this fortification is a part of the efforts to defend the territory from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, listed by Ankara as a terrorist organization.

The tensions between Turkey and Kurdish militant groups seeking independence escalated in July 2015, after a three-year ceasefire between the two sides collapsed over a series of terror attacks allegedly committed by PKK members. Thus prompting Ankara to launch a military operation in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern regions of the country. According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, the security forces neutralized more than 10,000 PKK members within this period.