Five dead in Turkish clashes

TURKISH troops, backed by helicopter gunships, killed five Kurdish rebels in an overnight clash in south-eastern Turkey.

The clash took place near the city of Bingol. Clashes between troops and autonomy-seeking rebels have escalated recently in the region.

Kurdish guerrillas, who took up arms for autonomy in the Kurdish-dominated south east in 1984, killed at least three soldiers and wounded nine others in separate attacks this week.