 TURKISH troops have killed 21 Kurdish rebels in the biggest clash since the fighters declared a unilateral truce more than five years ago. The Turks suffered three losses during the fighting near the south-eastern town of Pervari, in Siirt province, the governor's office in Sirnak province said. The private CNN-Turk television said earlier that Turkish soldiers had been pursuing rebels believed to have infiltrated into Turkey from neighbouring Iraq during the past week, and that the clash erupted overnight. The Turkish troops killed were a lieutenant and two sergeants, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. The rebels belong to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been seeking autonomy in Turkey's southeast and has battled government forces since 1984. The conflict has killed more than 37,000 people. The PKK has called for a full amnesty for all 5,000 or so of its fighters, as well as for its remaining leaders, who are hiding in the mountains of northern Iraq, which is under Kurdish control. |