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Four killed in fighting in Turkey's southeast

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, April 9, 2007 (AFP) - A Turkish soldier and three Kurdish rebels were killed in a security crackdown in Turkey's east following a weekend of heavy fighting, a security source said Monday.

The soldier was killed in a clash overnight Sunday in Yayladag in Bingol province where the army has been pursuing an operation against militants from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) since the weekend, the source said.

Three PKK rerbels were killed in a separate security sweep in the neighbouring Tunceli province, the source added.

The latest clashes bring to 10 the number of members of Turkish security forces killed in two days of heavy fighting in the country's east and southeast, in one of their heaviest losses in months.

Recent media reports have said that the Turkish army has sent reinforcements to the restive southeast and east of the country to counter PKK rebels infiltrating into Turkish territory from their bases in the mountains of northern Iraq with the arrival of spring.

Turkey says thousands of PKK rebels have found refuge in the mountainous enclave and accuses Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even supporting the militants.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country.

The PKK announced a ceasefire in October, but Turkish authorities rejected it.