Turkish jets destroy Kurdish rebel targets: State media

Turkish warplanes have destroyed 10 Kurdish rebel positions in the restive southeast as Ankara steps up its fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), state media reported on Sunday.

Jets bombed four PKK targets in the Cukurca district of the southeastern province of Hakkari close to northern Iraq on Saturday evening, security sources told state-run Anadolu news agency.

The bombing took place after a bloody 48 hours during which at least 22 Turkish soldiers and a village guardsman were killed in clashes and an attack blamed on PKK militants.

Twelve soldiers were killed in two separate clashes in the Cukurca and Semdinli districts in Hakkari, the provincial governor’s office said, while in Van province, eight soldiers died during fighting between soldiers and militants.

The village guard - killed in an attack in Mardin in the southeast on Friday - was part of a group of local residents who cooperate with Turkish security forces against the PKK, listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

Another six PKK positions were hit in the Mount Tendurek region between Agri and Van provinces in the country’s east on Saturday evening, Anadolu said.