Turkish security forces kill more than 5,300 militants since July: Erdogan

Turkish president says 355 soldiers, police officers and village guards have been killed in the violence

ISTANBUL: Turkish security forces have killed 5,359 Kurdish militants since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) abandoned a two-year ceasefire in July, the state-run Anadolu news agency cited President Tayyip Erdogan as saying on Monday.



Erdogan said 355 soldiers, police officers and village guards have been killed in the violence, most of it in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast. Anadolu cited the text of a speech by Erdogan to the Turkish War Academy.