Female Kurdish rebel fighters killed

Officials say 15 female Kurdish rebel fighters were killed in clashes with Turkish security forces. An Interior Ministry statement Saturday said the rebels members of the Kurdistan Workers  Party, or PKK were killed in fighting that erupted in the mainly Kurdish province of Bitlis. It said a government-paid village guard, helping the Turkish security forces, was also killed. The ministry gave no other information. The death toll is believed to be the highest number of female PKK casualties killed at any one time. The PKK believed to have several units of female fighters is fighting for autonomy in Turkey s mainly Kurdish southeast. Tens of thousands of people have died since the conflict began in 1984.