Eight Turkish soldiers killed near Iraqi border

ISTANBUL - Eight Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 injured in an attack by Kurdish rebels on a military outpost near Turkey’s border with Iraq, the Turkish military said Saturday.

The attack by militants from the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) took place near the town of Semdinli in Hakkari province in the restive southeastern region.

Twelve rebels were killed in the skirmish, according to an online statement by the Turkish General Staff.

Turkish security forces and the PKK, which is considered a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, fought a bloody war during the 1980s and 1990s that resulted in an estimated 40,000 deaths.

There has been increased fighting between the two sides in recent months, with Turkish jets bombing suspected PKK hideouts in northern Iraq.