35 PKK militants killed after trying to storm base, Turkish military says

ANKARA

Turkey's army killed 35 militants after they attempted to storm a base in the southeastern Hakkari province early on July 30, the military said in a written statement.The overnight attack came hours after clashes in Hakkari's Çukurca district between soldiers and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that left eight soldiers dead, the statement said.The militants attempted to take the base in three different groups, but were spotted by aerial reconnaissance. An air operation was launched, killing 23 of them, according to the military said.Four more were then killed in a ground operation, they said. The remaining eight were killed in clashes in Hakkari's Çukurca district.July 29's clashes in Çukurca also left 25 soldiers wounded, the officials said.The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization also by the U.S., and the EU – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.Since then, nearly 600 security personnel, including troops, police officers, and village guards, as well as more than 5,000 PKK militants have been killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq, according to official numbers.