Major operation targeting PKK continues in Turkey's southeast

A major operation that was launched against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Lice district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır has been continuing with the participation of some 7,000 soldiers, special forces police officers and village guards.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, along with Turkish police chief Selami Altınok and Gendarmerie Commander Gen. Yaşar Güler, visited Lice in order to obtain information about the operation.

Some 19 PKK militants were killed in the operation that started on March 5, government sources said.
Soylu, Altınok and Güler arrived in the province late on March 8 and visited the headquarters where the operation is being coordinated.

A number of other high-level officials participated in the meeting, including Diyarbakır Gov. Hüseyin Aksoy and Chief Public Prosecutor Kamil Erkut Güre. 

According to statements released by the governors' offices in Diyarbakır and the eastern province of Bingöl, a total of 19 PKK militants have been killed in the operations since March 5. 

The Diyarbakır Governor's Office said four militants were killed in clashes on March 8 in the Lice district, bringing the total number of militants killed in Lice to eight. 

An M-16 infantry rifle, three Kalashnikov infantry rifles and a glock weapon were seized as a part of the operation, which aims to "neutralize" PKK militants and sympathizers and destroy the PKK's drug production operations in the area. 

Turkish authorities use the word "neutralized" to refer to militants who are killed, incapacitated or captured.
The Bingöl Governor's Office said five militants were killed on March 8 and the total number of killed militants had risen to 11. 

In addition, a number...