Soldiers kill three suspected leftist militants in eastern Turkey

Turkish troops killed three suspected leftist militants in clashes in eastern Turkey, authorities said Monday.

The troops killed them near the town of Ovacik in eastern Tunceli, private CNN-Turk television reported. The militants were believed to be members of the banned Maoist Communist Party, a small militant group that is active in and around the Tunceli region.

Turkish troops killed 17 militants from the same group in the area in June. The group is suspected of having led an attack three years ago on a motorcade carrying a Turkish general near the capital, Ankara. The militants missed their targets and no one was injured in the attack.

The Maoist Communist Party is believed to have splintered from the banned Turkish Communist Party-Marxist Leninist, or TKP-ML.

Tunceli is some 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the capital, reports the AP.

P.T.