Kurdish PKK militants end unilateral ceasefire in Turkey

Kurdish militants scrapped amonth-old ceasefire in Turkey on Thursday, a day after PresidentTayyip Erdogan vowed to "liquidate" them, dashing hopes of any let-up in violence in the wake of a national election.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group said theruling AK Party, which won back its parliamentary majority in Sunday's election, had shown it was on a war footing withattacks launched this week.

"The unilateral halt to hostilities has come to an end withthe AKP's war policy and the latest attacks," it said in astatement carried by the Firat news agency, which is close tothe militant group, based in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Erdogan, who oversaw a peace process with the PKK thatcollapsed in July, vowed on Wednesday to continue battling thegroup until every last fighter was "liquidated".

Twenty people were killed in clashes with the military inthe mainly Kurdish southeast on Thursday, bringing this week'sdeath toll to more than 40. More than 40,000 people have beenkilled in the insurgency since it began in 1984.

• Turkey election: AKP declares victory after restoring majority

The PKK's latest declaration, on top of the renewed surge inviolence, was a fresh source of concern for foreign investorswho broadly viewed Sunday's election as offering the potentialfor increased stability in NATO-member Turkey.

However, generally weaker Turkish financial markets showedlittle immediate reaction to the PKK move.

The PKK designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the UnitedStates and the European Uniondeclared the ceasefire on Oct.10, saying it wanted to avoid violence that might prevent a fairelection. The government dismissed it as an electoral tactic.

"Step up struggle"

On the day the ceasefire was announced, more than 100 peoplewere killed in a double suicide bomb attack targeting
pro-Kurdish activists in the capital Ankara, and the followingday Turkey launched air strikes against PKK fighters.

"It is clear that a fresh halt to hostilities can only beachieved with a new will for a solution of the Kurdish problem
within the Turkish state and talks aimed at such solution," thePKK's statement said.

"We call on all the Kurdish people, the peoples of Turkeyand democracy forces to step up their struggle."

Erdogan has said the peace process, which Ankara launchedwith jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012, has beenconsigned to the "refrigerator". Ocalan last held talks with apro-Kurdish delegation on the process in April.

In the latest violence, the military killed 16 PKK rebels ina rural area near the town of Yuksekova, by the Iraqi border,
the General Staff said on its website. The army had said it hadkilled 15 PKK fighters and lost two soldiers there on Wednesday.

In the town of Silvan, where authorities imposed around-the-clock curfew on three districts this week, one police
officer and two men were shot dead in clashes, bringing thedeath toll there to five this week, security sources said.

They said one soldier had also been killed in a clash withmilitants on Thursday in the Diyarbakir district of Dicle, whichis also partly under curfew.