A Turkish soldier and three Kurdish militants were killed in a clash in eastern Turkey on Sunday, security sources said. The fighting between Turkish special forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) took place in a rural area of Kars province, they said. One soldier was also wounded. The PKK has attacked military targets on a near-daily basis since the Turkish government launched air strikes on rebel camps in northern Iraq on July 25, wrecking a two-year-old ceasefire. Saturday marked the 31st anniversary of the start of the conflict that has killed 40,000 people, mostly Kurds. Authorities in the town of Varto in Mus province ordered a total curfew, worried that the PKK had laid explosives there to coincide with the anniversary. The flareup in violence has killed 43 members of the security forces, according to the government. Turkish media have put the PKK's death toll at more than 200.
