Turkey says killed 17 Kurd rebels in clashes .  ANKARA 1996-08-23  Turkish troops have killed 17 Kurdish rebels in recent clashes in the southeast of the country , the state-run Anatolian news agency said on Friday .  Two security officials and two state-paid village guards were killed in the fighting with Kurdistan Workers Party ( PKK ) guerrillas , the agency quoted the emergency rule governor 's office as saying .  Eight of the rebels were killed in Van province , five in Sirnak and four in [START_ENT] Hakkari [END_ENT] .  The agency did not say when the clashes took place .  More than 20,000 people have died in the PKK 's 12-year-old fight for independence or autonomy in southeastern Turkey .  Three people , including two village guards , died when a mine planted by PKK rebels exploded on a road in the southeast , Anatolian reported earlier .  It said a taxi carrying the guards , members of a mostly Kurdish militia which fights the PKK , hit the mine in the province of Diyarbakir .
Hakkâri Province