Turkish troops clash with Kurd rebels, seven dead

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Apr 8 (Reuters) Five Turkish troops and two Kurdish rebels were killed at the weekend amid clashes in southeast Turkey as the army launched spring operations against the guerrillas, security officials said today.

At least 3,000 soldiers, backed by helicopters and Turkey's village guard militia, were taking part in the operations in the mountains of Sirnak province, near the Iraqi border.

In a clash on Kupeli mountain, an officer from the gendarmerie paramilitary police and a member of the village guard were killed as they fought with militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Two PKK rebels were killed in the clash and four soldiers were injured. Several thousand PKK fighters are based in the northern Iraqi mountains and cross the border each spring to launch attacks.

Further north in Bitlis province, a sergeant was killed when he stepped on a mine, the second such incident over the weekend.

Yesterday morning, two soldiers in a search operation in the Bitlis countryside were killed when one of them stepped on a mine believed to have been planted on the road by the rebels.

The PKK launched its armed separatist insurgency in 1984, and more than 30,000 people have died in the conflict.

The intensity of the fighting eased after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured and imprisoned in 1999, but fighting has flared up again in the last couple of years.

Reuters PDM GC1701