Erdogan says Turkey to annihilate Kurdish militants, 25 killed
Last edited Thu Dec 17, 2015, 06:07 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Reuters
Gunfire clattered constantly and smoke rose on Thursday from two towns in southeast Turkey and President Tayyip Erdogan said Kurdish militants would be "annihilated" in an intensifying urban battle that has killed 25 Kurdish militants in two days.
The PKK's three-decades-old insurgency flared up again in July after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire, plunging Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast back into open conflict.
Although traditionally rooted in the countryside, the PKK has shifted its focus in recent years to towns and cities in the southeast. The Ankara government has responded by cracking down with operations in border towns such as Cizre and Silopi, both of which were placed under curfew on Monday.
Erdogan said the operations would continue until the area was "cleansed" of the militants and their barricades and trenches destroyed. "You will be annihilated in those houses, those buildings, those ditches which you have dug," he told a crowd in Konya. "Our security forces will continue this fight until it has been completely cleansed and a peaceful atmosphere established."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-kurds-idUSKBN0U01B920151217
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