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It's spring and war's returned to eastern Turkey. despite the Turk government amnesty, despite calls for government tolerance and PKK surrender, pockets of war continues. March 10th, two Turk Army troops and nine PKK Kurd rebels were killed in firefights near Bingol. On March 6 Turkish Army spokesmen said that Turkish troops killed six leftist guerrillas in Tunceli province (eastern Turkey). security officials said. The spokesmen identified the guerrillas as members of the Maoist "Turkish Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army" (acronym: TIKKO). TIKKO is a very fringe group. While TIKKO claims its goal is to bring a Communist government to power in Turkey, several intelligence analysts claim it actually operates with the PKK Kurd rebels. On March 2, 6 PKK Kurd rebels and 3 Turkish troops were killed in fighting in southeastern Turkey. The three Turk troops were killed in an ambush near Simak.