18 PKK militants killed near Turkey's Syrian border

Eighteen outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants, including two allegedly senior figures, have been killed near the border with Syria during an attempt to cross into Qamishli from Nusaybin in Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin. 

Security sources said on April 18 that 18 militants were killed in clashes with Turkey's security forces overnight when they tried to illegally cross the border into Syria from the Turkish border town of Nusaybin. 

Accordingly, security forces were conducting a sweep through the district when clashes broke out as militants tried to reach the nearby Syrian city of Qamishli, largely under the control of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the militia force of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Turkey considers to be an offshoot of the PKK. 

Two M-16 infantry rifles, two pistols, 15 Kalashnikovs, three RPG-7 rocket launchers, a number of night vision glasses and a large amount of ammunition were seized by security forces in a search conducted in the area after the operation ended. 

A total of 263 PKK militants have been killed since security operations began with curfews imposed on March 14, the Mardin's Governor's Office announced on April 18. A total of 44 soldiers were killed in the same period, the statement added.

The Turkish General Staff said 13 other militants were killed across the southeastern provinces of Mardin, ??rnak and Hakkari on April 17. 

In a separate incident, one soldier was also reportedly killed on April 18 during clashes with PKK militants in Nusaybin during an operation in its Fatih neighborhood. The specialist corporal was injured and taken to the Nusaybin State Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. 

Clashes also...