Dozens killed in Turkey clashes

Six Turkish soldiers and 30 Kurdish militants have been killed in the past 24 hours in attacks and clashes across Turkey's turbulent southeast region, security sources and the army said yesterday.

An estimated 57 people, including eight civilians, were wounded in the attacks, they said.

Thousands of militants and hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed since the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) resumed its insurgency last summer following a 2-1/2-year ceasefire and peace process.

The government has ruled out any return to the negotiating table and has vowed to crush the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.

The security sources said operations in Sirnak province and in neighbouring Iraq and Syria had been stepped up and that gunfire and explosions could be heard in the area where earlier one soldier was killed and three others wounded.