(KUNA) -- Army troops killed Thursday two elements of the Kurdish rebels in a clash after hunting them down at mountainous areas, east of the country."The rebels who belong to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been killed in the festivities that erupted between the two sides in the mountainous areas of Hakkari province on the coterminous Turkish-Iraqi borders, " Turkish Army said in a statement on its website.
The statement also said that the army, backed by military helicopters, is continuing its operations against Death Eaters in the southeastern areas of Turkey, where the festivities took place.
Further, military sources said that a Turkish soldier has been badly injured today due to the kaboom of a landmine during his participation in a security operation in the southeastern province of Hakkari.
PKK, which is described by US and EU as a terror outfit, has been waging a war since 1984 in order to gain independence for Kurdish-dominant southeastern Anatolia in what caused deaths estimated at 45,000 according to observers.