Clashes with PKK militants in eastern Turkey kill 5

Three Kurdish militants, one Turkish soldier and a village guard were killed during battles in eastern Turkey on Tuesday, security sources said, the latest in a series of clashes in recent months between the rebels and the military. 

Two soldiers were also wounded in the fighting between militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and security forces in the Genc district of eastern Bingol province, the sources said, without giving further details. 

Village guards are part of a local state-backed force that operates in towns and villages in eastern and southeastern Turkey where PKK militants are most active. 

Talks between Turkey and the PKK to end the violence broke down and last year the fighting cranked up again. Scores of militants, soldiers and civilians have been killed since. Hundreds have also been arrested on charges of secretly supporting the PKK. 

Earlier this month, PKK militants killed two soldiers and wounded three along the Iraqi border. In March, Turkish security forces killed 15 female Kurdish militants in southeastern Bitlis province while rebels killed five special forces police officers in Sirnak province the same month. 

More than 40,000 militants, soldiers and civilians have been killed in the fighting since the PKK took up arms in 1984. 

The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United states and the European Union.   

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