Demonstrators flash victory signs in front of a burnt vehicle in Diyarbakir, south-eastern Turkey.—Reuters Photo

DIYARBAKIR: Six Kurdish rebels and six policemen have been killed over the past two days in a massive sweep against Kurdish rebels in south-eastern Turkey, security sources told AFP on Thursday.

Backed by helicopters, thousands of security forces, including police and the army, were participating in the largest anti-rebel operation so far this year, they said.

The clashes were still continuing Thursday on the outskirts of Mount Cudi in Sirnak province, near the Syrian border.

Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin also travelled to Sirnak to coordinate the operation.

Turkey’s wide-scale offensive against an unspecified number of rebels in its Kurdish-majority southeast began on Tuesday.

Lately, special police forces have been much more involved in the fight against the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a mission mostly handled by soldiers in the past.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and by much of the international community, took up arms in Kurdish-majority south-eastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.