Three Kurdish rebels killed in eastern Turkey

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, May 29 (Reuters) Turkish security forces killed three Kurdish separatist fighters in a firefight overnight in mountainous eastern Turkey, security officials said today.

Police and paramilitary gendarmes ambushed the rebels after receiving intelligence about their whereabouts in a remote part of Van province near the Iranian border.

The three rebels were killed after they ignored an order to stop and opened fire on the security forces. The gendarmes seized guns, ammunition and handgrenades.

Security forces have been battling rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) since the group began its armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Turkish authorities blamed the PKK for a suicide bombing in the capital Ankara last week in which six people were killed and scores more injured. The PKK denied any involvement.

The latest clash also coincides with speculation in the Turkish press that Turkish troops may shortly make an incursion into northern Iraq to fight PKK fighters hiding there.

Reuters SBC DB1345