10 PKK members killed, some 50 encircled in east Turkey

Ten Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militant members were killed in an operation in the mountainous areas surrounding the Kursunlu village in eastern Turkish province Diyarbakir's Dicle district, Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman reported on its website on Sunday. Headed by Diyarbakir Regional Gendarmerie Command Brig. Gen. Seyfullah Saldik, the operation began after unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) spotted PKK members on Saturday, said the report. F-5 and F-15 fighter jets was sent to bombard the area where PKK members were detected from the Diyarbakir 2nd Air Force Command. UAV Images showed that 10 PKK militants had been killed by the bombs when trying to flee a cave. Later, gendarmerie units encircled four caves and called on PKK militants to surrender. So far, no militants have surrendered to the security units. It is believed that some 50 PKK militants are currently hiding in the caves in the area. The Turkish Armed Forces units will destroy the caves if the PKK members declined to surrender. The police get the clue of the whereabouts of the PKK members by tracking telephone numbers on the phonebook of a dead PKK member's cellphone, according to the report. Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the PKK took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. More than 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the PKK during the past over two decades.