Two people were killed on Wednesday when pro-Kurdish demonstrators clashed with police forces in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

The demonstrators burned tyres, threw stones at police forces and broke the windows of elderly care centers, police stations, some businesses, Turkish Radio and Television building and several banks in Diyarbakir city as police used tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Two people were killed in the fierce clashes and a number of others wounded, according to the report.

Traffic had been interrupted in various parts of Diyarbakir and many shops were close, the report added.

It was the second day of the violent demonstration as at least 42 people were injured in Tuesday's protest and a total of 80 demonstrators were arrested by police.

The demonstration was triggered when bodies of four members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), killed in a recent military operation, were brought to Diyarbakir city for burial on Tuesday.

Osman Baydemir, Diyarbakir major, was quoted by Anatolia as saying that he was concerned about the continuing protest and the tense situation.

Similar demonstrations also took place in the southeastern province of Siirt and the eastern province of Van.

In response to the violence, Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said on Wednesday that only a small number of people participated in the demonstrations in Diyarbakir.

"Yet the damage they caused has been extensive," said Arinc, adding that the situation was under control.A total of 14 PKK members were killed by Turkish security forces near Senyayla hamlet in the eastern province of Mus on Saturday, Anatolia reported.

The PKK launched an armed campaign against the Turkish government in 1984, fighting for the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.

The group is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Violence in southeastern Turkey has escalated since June 2004 when the PKK called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire and ended a period of relative calm in the region.

Source: Xinhua