Seventeen Turkish soldiers were killed when their helicopter
crashed in southeastern Turkey due to bad weather conditions
including fog, the area's governor said.
The Sikorsky helicopter crashed on Herekol mountain, in the
Pervari area of Siirt province, Siirt Governor Ahmet Aydin
said. The victims were members of the country's gendarmerie
special forces and there were no survivors, he said.
The Turkish military has been carrying out operations on the
mountain in recent months to flush out militants from
outlawed separatist group the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
who have hideouts there.
"Today at 7:15 in the morning in the village of Bilgili
around Siirt, we got 17 martyrs - officers, non-commissioned
officers and soldiers," Turkish President Abdullah Gul said
in a statement.
Military officials reached the crash site and were taking the
soldiers' bodies to the province's main city, Siirt.
Since summer there has been an upsurge in PKK attacks in
southeast Turkey, notably in the Hakkari region.
Three teachers were kidnapped by PKK militants on Saturday
near the Syrian border in Mardin province, security sources
said.
Turkish jets and helicopters have pounded PKK positions along
the border with Iraq and Iran for three days, killing 42
militants, Hakkari's governor said late on Friday.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict
between Turkey and the PKK, which launched its insurgency in
1984 with the aim of carving out a separate state in mainly
Kurdish southeast Turkey.
The PKK is classified as a terrorist group by Turkey, the
United States and European Union.
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.