Turkish Troops Kill Five Kurdish Rebels

Turkish state media say five Kurdish rebels have been killed in a clash with Turkish security forces in the country's Kurdish majority southeast.

The Anatolia news agency said the five Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters, two of them women, were killed in Tatvan, a town in Bitlis province, on May 8.

The incident comes a day after similar clashes in neighboring Siirt province left two rebels dead.

Analysts say fighting in the region usually escalates in the spring as snow melts along the mountainous Iraqi-Turkish border.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington, took up arms in southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP