7 senior PKK terrorists killed in southeastern Turkey

By Meltem Yilmaz

TRABZON, Turkey (AA) - Turkish security forces killed seven PKK terrorists in an operation in the southeastern Mardin province, the country’s interior minister said Sunday.

Addressing a rally with opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) members in the northeastern Trabzon province, Suleyman Soylu said that senior PKK members who carried out deadly terror attacks in Turkey had been killed in Mardin's Savur district.

Soylu said that one of them was likely an Iranian national.

In the operation one of the security forces was slightly injured, he added.

On Saturday, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement that from March 31 to April 6, 36 terrorists were killed in anti-PKK operations in the Turkish provinces of Diyarbakir, Sirnak, Batman, Tunceli, Hakkari, and Kars.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU. It has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, during which more than 40,000 people have been killed.

Since the group resumed its armed campaign in July 2015, more than 1,200 people, including security personnel and civilians, have lost their lives.