Thirteen Turkish soldiers and seven Kurdish fighters were killed in an ambush followed by clashes between two sides in southeast Turkey.

Thirteen Turkish soldiers and seven Kurdish fighters were killed in an ambush followed by clashes between two sides in southeast Turkey.

The attack near the town of Silvan, in Diyarbakir province, also left seven soldiers wounded, two of them seriously, according to provincial governor Mustafa Toprak.
The incident took place during an army operation in the mountainous region known to be a stronghold of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Fighters started to threw grenades into a heavily wooded area where soldiers had been.

The gunfire continued into the evening, according to the local sources who described the action as a rebel ambush.

According to the Anatolia news agency, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled his engagements in Istanbul to convene an emergency meeting with the country's top security chiefs, including army commanders and interior minister Besir Atalay.

After that meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, Erdogan issued a statement stressing Ankara's determination to subdue the militant rebels.
"The objectives of the forces behind this attack are clear. (But) Turkey has the forces and the determination to overcome the terrorism issue," he said.