General Metin Gurak, the head of the general staff's press department, said on Friday that intercepted wireless communication between PKK terrorists during Tuesday's operation in Sirnak province hinted at up to 35 deaths.

"As you can see the organisation has suffered heavily. We are still sweeping the area ... [but] do not have an official statement yet on the PKK's losses," he said.
Gurak also said that the communication was intercepted after Turkish artillery and gunship fire targeted two groups of PKK terrorists when they were moving towards a military outpost in the mountainous region.

The intercepeted messages also suggested the terrorists might have shot dead fellow PKK members who were seriously wounded and could not move.

Turkish offensive

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed at least 44,000 lives.

The Turkish army has intensified operations against the PKK since October 3 when the terrorists crossing from hideouts in neighbouring Iraq attacked a border outpost, killing 17soldiers.

Beside operations inside Turkey, it has carried out seven air raids against PKK camps in northern Iraq, including one in which senior PKK members were targeted in the mountainous region of Zap, a major PKK stronghold.

Last week, the Turkish parliament extended by one year the government's mandate to order cross-border military raids against the PKK in northern Iraq, which has been in effect since October 17, 2007.

Agencies