Leader of Kurdish rebels fighting Turkey calls truce

The jailed leader of Kurdish rebels fighting Turkey, has called for a truce after years of war.

Abdullah Ocalan also urged the fighters of his PKK organisation to withdraw from Turkey, in a message read out to cheers during Kurdish New Year celebrations in the city of Diyarbakir.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cautiously welcomed the call.

More than 40,000 people have died in the 30-year fight for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in Turkey's south-east.