Kurdish militants end month-long Turkey ceasefire after Erdogan vows 'to liquidate them'

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Kurdish militants ended a month-old ceasefire in Turkey on Thursday, a day after President Tayyip 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 the ruling AK Party, which won back its parliamentary majority in Sunday's election, was on a war footing.

"The unilateral halt to hostilities has come to an end with the AKP's war policy and the latest attacks," it said in a statement carried by the Firat news agency, which is close to the militant group.

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

Eighteen people were killed in clashes with the military in the mainly Kurdish southeast on Thursday, bringing this week's death toll to almost 40. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency since it began in 1984.

The PKK - designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union - declared the ceasefire on 10 October as a move to avoid any violence that might prevent a "fair and just election". The government dismissed it as an electoral tactic.

Reuters