Renewed clashes in SE Turkey kill seven- officials

TUNCELI, Turkey, May 6 (Reuters) Two Turkish soldiers and five Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas were killed in southeast Turkey, officials said.

Fighting tends to escalate in the spring as the snow melts and guerrillas cross the border from their hide-outs in Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq, where Ankara continues to urge the United States to crack down on militants.

The PKK has been fighting for a homeland in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey since 1984, and Ankara blames the movement for more than 30,000 deaths since then.

The governor of the Sirnak province, which borders Iraq, said in a statement two soldiers had been killed in clashes yesterday, while a security official said five militants were killed yesterday and today in Hatay, which borders Syria.

The security official said today fighting was most intense in the border areas.

''Particularly in Hakkari and Sirnak clashes have increased in recent days .... groups trying to cross into Turkey from northern Iraq are being constantly followed,'' he said.

In nearby Gaziantep one person was injured late yesterday when a home-made bomb was left in front of a local police station, state news agency Anatolian reported.

REUTERS AB PM1945