ANKARA, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Three rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists were killed by Turkish army in southeastern province of Tunceli on Wednesday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

    The patrolling security forces clashed with a group of armed PKK rebels in rural areas of Kizilmescid region of Pulumur town and killed three of them, said the report.

    Security operations are still underway in the region, said the report.

    Also on Wednesday, eight PKK rebels surrendered to security forces in the southeastern province of Sirnak.

    The Turkish military has periodically bombed and shelled suspected PKK positions in Turkish-Iraqi border area during the past few months. In February, it launched an eight-day ground incursion into Iraq.

    The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.