Turkish security forces killed at least 12 Kurdish militants after they were spotted crossing the border from Iraq, the military said on Saturday, while a soldier was killed by a mine blast. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas were killed during operations on Friday and early Saturday in the south-east province of Sirnak, the military statement said.
The soldier died in Hakkari, another insurgency-plagued province bordering both Iran and Iraq, state-run Antaolian news agency said. Some PKK fighters operate from bases in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq. The PKK ended a six-month cease-fire in February and there have been fears of rising violence before a parliamentary election on June 12 that is expected to result in a comfortable third successive victory for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party.
Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan has threatened "war" unless the government enters talks after the election to end a separatist conflict that has dragged on for 27 years, killing more than 40,000 people. The PKK last week claimed responsibility for an ambush that killed a police officer and wounded another in the northern Black Sea province of Kastamonu after an election rally by Erdogan, and two more police were killed this week.