Spring brings more PKK clashes in S Turkey - USA watches.

Five members of Turkey's security forces were killed (two soldiers and three village guards - Yunus Yildirim, Nurettin Yildirim, and Faysal Yildirim.) in a clash with Kurdish separatist guerrillas, officials said on Wednesday. Five other village guards were injured in the clash, which happened on Tuesday evening near Kato Mountain a mountainous district of Sirnak (Cirnak) province near Turkey's southeastern border with Iraq. 2 PKK members have also been reported killed in the clash.

The clash occurred during a big military offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the region.

Earlier this week, a soldier was killed and four security personnel wounded in a similar clash with the PKK.

Security forces are trying to stop PKK fighters based in mountainous and mainly Kurdish northern Iraq from crossing over the border into Turkey. Ankara has reportedly asked U.S. and Iraqi forces to crack down on PKK units based inside Iraq.

US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried says the United States is increasing its cooperation with Turkey against a Kurdish terrorist group, the PKK, and "we want to increase it still more." He was speaking in a roundtable discussion with Turkish diplomats co-hosted by CNN Türk's Mithat Bereket in Istanbul, and America Abroad Media's Judy Woodruff in Washington

"Without getting into intelligence issues, I'm very happy to report to you that our cooperation with Turkey against the PKK is increasing" ... like helping the Croatians scour out the Serbians in Kranje Luka... benn there, done that.

The United States considers the PKK to be a terrorist group that "has no place in Iraq" and "has no place anywhere," Fried said.