17-year-old killed in Istanbul clashes with police: reports

The group involved in the clashes had their faces masked and were carrying Molotov cocktails and bomb-making equipment

ISTANBUL: A Turkish 17-year-old has been killed in clashes in Istanbul between police and a group allied to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the official Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday.

The clashes erupted late Tuesday when a group of around 20 people sought to hold what was described as an unauthorised demonstration in the Esenler district of Istanbul and opened fire on the police, the report said.

The incident came amid soaring tensions in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast where the Turkish military are waging an unprecedented "war on terror" against the PKK.

The group involved in the Istanbul clashes, said to be members of the PKK's youth wing, the Revolutionary Patriotic Youth Movement (YDG-H), had their faces masked and were carrying Molotov cocktails and bomb-making equipment.

The 17-year-old was named only as F.E. and described as a member of the militant group. Other media reports suggested the teenager was male.

Police defused an unexploded bomb at the scene, Anatolia said. Four people were arrested, with the rest of the group fleeing into alleyways.

Tensions in Turkey's southeast regularly spill over into Istanbul, which is a major hub for Kurdish militant groups like the PKK as well as the outlawed Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).