Report: Kurdish rebels extend unilateral cease-fire in Turkey

Report: Kurdish rebels extend cease-fire

ANKARA, Turkey — A news agency says Kurdish rebels have extended by a week a unilateral cease-fire that they declared for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The suspension of attacks, declared on Aug. 13, would have expired on Monday. But the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency quotes the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, as saying the group will assess the situation in Turkey before deciding next week whether to extend its cease-fire.

Turkey has ignored all PKK cease-fire declarations in the past and violence has continued. Nine people were killed in a roadside bomb attack on a minibus in southeastern Turkey last week. The government blamed the PKK but the rebels denied responsibility.

The PKK has been fighting for autonomy since 1984.