Ankara launches vast security operation against PKK militants in southeast

Security forces in Turkey have launched one of their largest "anti-terrorist" operations over the past years against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group in the country’s troubled southeast.

Sources said on Monday that some 7,000 Turkish gendarmerie soldiers, 600 special forces along with dozens of tanks and helicopters had been deployed to Lice district in Diyarbakir province.

Provincial governor’s office said in a statement that 18 villages in Lice had been placed under strict curfew until further notice.

The aim of the operation is to "neutralize" members and accomplices of the outlawed PKK militant group, it added.

On February 12, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that a total of 2,603 people had been arrested over the past five months due to their alleged links to the PKK.  

SS