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Five Kurdish rebels killed in southeast Turkey

ANKARA, Dec 5, 2006 (AFP) - Five Kurdish rebels were killed in clashes with the army in southeast Turkey despite a ceasefire the militants called in October, the Turkish general staff said in a statement here Tuesday.

The fighting occurred Monday in the mountains near the town of Beytussebap, in Sirnak province, which borders Iraq and Syria, it said.

Five others -- four presumed members of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels and one soldier -- died in clashes in the same province last week.

The PKK, which has been fighting the Turkish army since 1984, proclaimed a unilateral ceasefire from October 1, saying it hoped this would pave the way for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The truce, like previous ones called by the rebels, was rejected by Turkey, but fighting has decreased markedly since then.

More than 37,000 people have died since the PKK, considered a terrorist group by by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country.