Turkey offensive kills 115 Kurdish rebels

ANKARA, Turkey -- The country's security forces have killed as many as 115 Kurdish rebels during a major security offensive over the past two weeks, Turkey's interior minister said Sunday.

Idris Naim Sahin said the rebels were killed in an airpower-backed offensive near the town of Semdinli, in Hakkari province, which sits on the border with Iraq. He said the offensive began on July 23.

Sahin provided few other details on the ongoing operation but said security forces were trying to block the rebels' escape routes into northern Iraq.

Private NTV television said earlier that as many as 2,000 troops were taking part in the offensive and that public access to some area roads was blocked.

Earlier yesterday, rebels fired on military posts in Hakkari, including the paramilitary station near the village of Gecimli, 12 miles from the frontier, according to a statement from the Hakkari governor's office.

Gov. Orhan Alimoglu said the attack near Gecimli triggered clashes that killed 22 rebels, soldiers and village guards. At least 15 soldiers, another village guard and five civilians were also injured in the attack.

The offensive comes six weeks after a similar raid on a military unit, also in Hakkari province, killed 18 rebels and eight soldiers, prompting Turkey's military to send warplanes and attack helicopters to hit Kurdish rebel targets inside Iraq.

The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast region and maintain bases in northern Iraq, from where they launch hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets. The conflict between the PKK and Turkish government forces has killed tens of thousands since the rebels took up arms in 1984.

Turkey has warned it would "not tolerate" any rebel threats from Syrian territory. The Turkish government said last month that Turkish Kurdish rebels have seized five towns along the border in collaboration with Syria's Democratic Union Party, or PYD -- an ethnic Kurdish grouping. It has launched military drills near the frontier in a show of muscle aimed at the rebels.