Kurdish rebels' attack on security complex in Turkey leaves 30 dead

Kurdish rebels armed with machine guns and rocket launchers have attacked a security complex in southeastern Turkey, triggering fierce fighting that left about 30 people dead, local sources said yesterday.

Ten soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the nighttime attack in the province of Sirnak, the local government said, while other local sources said about 20 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were also killed.

Provincial governor Vahdettin Ozkan said the militants had attacked the security complex at Beytussebap late on Sunday, killing nine members of the security forces and wounding eight. His office later said that one of those wounded had died.

Police and soldiers returned fire, triggering fierce clashes.

The PKK has stepped up its assaults against Turkish security forces in recent months, with Turkish officials and the local media linking the surge to the conflict raging in neighbouring Syria.

Last month, 10 people were killed in a car bomb attack blamed on separatist Kurds in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.