Ankara - Six Kurdish separatists were killed and three wounded in fighting with Turkish soldiers in south-east Turkey, the semi-official Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday. Anadolu reported that operations were launched after intelligence that a man from the village of Guvendik near the Turkish border with Iran had been kidnapped by guerrillas from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) and that the man was being taken to Iran.
Six Kurdish rebels were killed and three wounded in the clash. The report said that the kidnapped man had been shot dead by the PKK rebels.
Clashes between the Turkish army and the PKK have been sporadic since the army launched a week-long cross-border incursion into northern Iraq in February in a bid to destroy PKK camps.
According to the Turkish military, 240 PKK fighters, 24 Turkish soldiers and three village guards employed by Turkey were killed in the operation.
Since the operation started, the Turkish Air Force has also launched a number of airstrikes against PKK positions in Iraq.
Ankara blames the separatist group for the deaths of more than 32,000 people since the early 1980s when the PKK began its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated south-east of Turkey.
The PKK is considered by the United States and the European Union to be a terrorist group.
