DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, April 15 (AFP)  Nine rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
 (PKK) and five soldiers were killed in clashes in the eastern Turkish province of Bingol, security
 officials said Sunday.

 The fighting broke out Saturday as the Turkish army was carrying out security operations
 against the rebels, the emergency rule headquarters in this southeastern city said in a
 statement.

 The soldiers died after stepping on land-mines planted by the rebels, it said, adding that two
 other soldiers were injured in the explosions.

 Security operations in the region were continuing.

 The PKK took up arms against the Ankara government in 1984 in pursuit of Kurdish self-rule in
 Turkey's eastern and southeastern regions, which are mainly populated by Kurds.

 But in September 1999, the group declared an end to its armed campaign and said it would
 withdraw from Turkish territory and help find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

 Since then, previously heavy fighting in the region, which has claimed some 36,500 lives, has
 scaled down considerably.

 But the PKK truce, launched following peace calls by condemned rebel Abdullah Ocalan, has
 been brushed aside by the Turkish army as a "terrorist ploy".

 Most of the rebels who left are believed to have crossed into northern Iraq, an area outside
 Baghdad's control since the 1991 Gulf war.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com