UPDATE - Aerial drones kill 19 PKK terrorists in SE Turkey

UPDATES WITH ANOTHER AIRSTRIKE IN SIIRT PROVINCE

ANKARA (AA) - Nineteen PKK terrorists were killed by a drone strike during an operation against the PKK in the southeastern province of Sirnak early Thursday, according to the Turkish army.

In a statement, the army said the terrorists were killed in an aerial drone-backed operation in the Bestler-Dereler region near Sirnak. The operation was launched to frustrate the terrorists’ anticipated preparations for winter.

One terrorist was captured alive in the region and seven bodies of terrorists left from other operations were also identified, it added.

During the operation, military units confiscated and destroyed explosives, guns, artillery, medical supplies, and ammunition stores in caves, it said.

Later on Thursday, four other terrorists were "neutralized" in an air operation carried out around Eruh district in the neighboring Siirt province, the governor's office said.

The operations are ongoing in the region, the statement added.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.

Since then, PKK terrorists have martyred more than 700 members of security forces and claimed lives of over 310 civilians including women and children while more than 10,000 PKK terrorists have been killed or apprehended in army operations.