Kurdish militants killed 13 soldiers and wounded seven others in an ambush that marked the worst attack since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) ended a ceasefire in February, military and provincial officials said, according to Reuters. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan immediately called a meeting with the army and intelligence chiefs as well as the interior minister and head of the paramilitary gendarmerie in Ankara. Security forces, backed by warplanes, launched a hunt for the rebel fighters in the mountains of Diyarbakir province. The PKK moved to what it calls an "active defence" stance, whereby its fighters defend themselves if threatened, after ending its 6-month-old ceasefire. Last week the jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan sent word through his lawyers that he had agreed with Turkish officials to set up a "peace council" aimed at ending the 27-year-old separatist conflict. Ocalan said the council should be formed within one month, though it was unclear what form it would take. The proposal came a month after Erdogan's AK Party won an election for a third term in power and two months after Ocalan threatened "war" unless the government entered talks. -- SPA
