(Xinhua) -- Four rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in an operation staged by Turkish security forces in southeastern Turkey, a Turkish military statement said on Monday. The Turkish security forces encountered four PKK militants in a mountainous area near Beytussebap town of Sirnak Province later Sunday and called on them to surrender, Turkey's General Staff said in a statement posted in its website.
The PKK militants opened fired on the security forces, and four PKK members were killed during the clash, adding the death toll of PKK rebels killed in the region over the past four days to eight, said the statement.
The PKK rebels have battled more than two decades for autonomy in southeastern Turkey and they use strongholds in northern Iraq for cross-border raids. About 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.