Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Kurdish Rebel Leader Threatens to Expand Uprising in Turkey
By VOA News
17 May 2005



Kurdish rebels are threatening to extend their uprising in southeastern Turkey to other areas of the country, if the military continues its ongoing offensive against rebels in the region.

In a published statement Tuesday in the pro-Kurdish newspaper Ozgur Politika, rebel commander Yusef Turhalli said his forces will begin targeting Turkey's larger cities if the offensive continues.

Meanwhile, Turkey said four soldiers were killed today, when a rebel-planted bomb destroyed their vehicle near the Iraqi border.

Hours earlier, police said two Kurdish suicide bombers linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (the PKK) were killed in a failed attack on the local governor's residence.

Fighting subsided in 1999 after the PKK declared a cease-fire with Ankara in its 15-year battle for Kurdish autonomy in the region. But rebels called off the truce last June, saying they were not satisfied with the pace of promised Turkish reforms.

Some information for this report provided by AP.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-05-17-voa28.cfm