Turkish security forces have killed nearly 600 PKK militants since "counter-terror operations" were launched across the southeast last month, the military said Tuesday.
The Turkish General Staff and the office of Diyarbakir province’s governor said 578 PKK fighters had been killed since Dec. 15 in five districts in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Sirnak and Mardin.
Operations have been completed in Nusaybin and Dargecit in Mardin province and are ongoing in Diyarbakir’s Sur district as well as Cizre and Silopi in Sirnak.
Sur, a historic area of the region’s largest province Diyarbakir, has been under military curfew since Dec. 2, effectively sealing off the district. The security forces’ operations have resulted in the deaths of 91 militsntd while more than 50 barricades and ditches have been removed.
The PKK erects such barriers to impede the security forces.
In Silopi and Cizre, 387 PKK militants were killed, according to the military, and more than 500 barriers removed. More than 900 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were destroyed.
The military said operations in Silopi would end soon.
In Nusaybin and Dargecit, 100 militants were killed and around 100 ditches and barricades removed. Security forces destroyed 43 IEDs.
The PKK - considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU - resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in late July.
Since then, more than 200 members of the security forces have been martyred and thousands of PKK militants killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.
