Another Turkish police officer and seven members of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed during clashes between security forces and the PKK on Cudi Mountain, the Cihan news agency reported on Thursday.
Five Turkish special operations police officers were killed in clashes with the PKK on Cudi Mountain in the southeastern province of Sırnak on Wednesday. The clashes between security forces and the PKK continued on Thursday, with Cihan reporting one more police officer was killed. Cihan also said seven terrorists were killed during the clashes while another was captured, Today's Zaman reported.
The PKK has recently stepped up its campaign of violence, escalating already high tensions over violence surrounding the spring festival of Nevruz, mostly celebrated by Kurds in Turkey.
Turkey has been fighting the PKK since 1984 and as many as 40,000 people have died since then. The PKK has been declared a terrorist organization by a large majority of the international community, including the US and the European Union.