Turkish troops kill three Kurdish militants

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, July 10 (Reuters) Turkish military forces killed three Kurdish rebels in a firefight near the Iraqi border overnight, security officials said today.

The guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were believed to have crossed the border into Turkey from Iraq.

The number of Turkish troops stationed in the region has increased since April, when security forces launched their spring offensive against Kurdish militants entering the country from Iraq.

Earlier this year Turkish officials urged US and Iraqi officials to subdue the Kurdish rebels living in mountainous northern Iraq.

More than 30,000 lives have been lost since 1984, when the PKK began its armed campaign to establish an ethnic homeland in Turkey's southeast.

REUTERS KD KN1555