Four Kurdish rebels were killed in south-east Turkey on Monday in two separate clashes with Turkish security forces, the Anadolu news agency reported. Three Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels were killed in fighting in a mountainous region of Siirt province, dpa reported. In the other clash one PKK rebel was killed and two escaped in fighting after the guerrillas were found to be setting up a roadside bomb in the province of Sirnak near the Turkish border with Iraq. Two soldiers were also injured when their vehicle was fired upon by PKK rebels in the province of Tunceli. The death and injuries come as the government is coming under increasing pressure from the public and the military to launch a cross-border operation into northern Iraq to wipe out PKK camps where an estimated 3,500 PKK rebels are based. The United States and Iraq have both come out strongly against any such operation. More than 32,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated south-east.
