Turkey arrests 137 in anti-PKK raids

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AFP Ankara
Last Updated : Oct 06 2018 | 5:50 PM IST

Turkish authorities have arrested 137 people in a country-wide operation over two days aimed at the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), state news agency Anadolu said Saturday.

The PKK, designated as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, is regularly targeted in security forces raids.

The authorities are still battling the over three-decade insurgency of the PKK which initially took up arms for a separate state but now demands a degree of autonomy.

The clashes between Turkish security forces and PKK members have resumed after a fragile ceasefire collapsed in 2015.

The PKK's armed struggle with the Turkish government has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984.

On Thursday, eight soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in southeastern Turkey in an attack the government blamed on the PKK.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a TV address Saturday that "at least 800 terrorists will be made to pay" for the attack.

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First Published: Oct 06 2018 | 5:50 PM IST

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