Turkey 'kills 11 Kurdish rebels'

Sporadic clashes continue to plague parts of eastern Turkey

Turkey says its troops have killed 11 members of the Kurdish separatist guerrilla group, the PKK, in clashes in the south-eastern province of Tunceli.

About 3,000 Turkish troops took part in the operation on Thursday, backed by attack helicopters, officials said.

Turkey has intensified its operations against the PKK in recent months, launching air strikes and a ground offensive in northern Iraq.

A court on Thursday jailed a Kurdish politician, Leyla Zana, for two years.

Mrs Zana, 47, was sentenced in Diyarbakir for praising the jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. She has previously spent 10 years in jail.

More than 30,000 people have been killed since the PKK began fighting for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish area of south-east Turkey in 1984.

Turkey, the EU and US consider the PKK to be a terrorist organisation.