Explosions, clashes kill four Turkish soldiers

07/09/2008

ANKARA Turkey -- A blast killed two Turkish soldiers in the southeastern province of Sirnak on Friday (September 5th), local authorities said. The soldiers died when explosives planted by militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PK) went off near Sirnak's Guneycam village. The same day, a land mine planted by PKK terrorists killed one Turkish soldier in Yuksekova town of the southeastern province of Hakkari, the General Staff said in a statement posted on its website.

On Saturday, clashes with PKK terrorists killed one Turkish sergeant and injured another two soldiers in the town of Baykan in the southeastern province of Siirt.

In other news, Turkey's air forces announced Friday that a major international military air exercise will take place at the 3rd Main Jet Base in the central province of Konya from Monday (September 8th) to September 19th. Fighters from Turkey, the United States, Italy, Israel and NATO will participate in the exercise, the statement said. (Anadolu news agency, CNN Turk, NTV, Xinhua - 05/09/08)