(Herald Tribune) - Rebel assaults against Turkish positions during the last month have left 47 dead, including 35 soldiers, according to government and media reports.
Turkey is pressing Washington to promise to take specific measures against rebel group, accusing the rebels of using the rugged, ungoverned Iraqi border region as a staging area for attacks in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast. The attacks are part of the PKK's decades-long war against Turkey, first for independence and more recently for political autonomy.
Nearly 40,000 people have died in the conflict since the rebels launched their first armed attack against a military unit in 1984.