30 people die in clashes in Turkey

At least 30 people have died in clashes in the Turkish city of Cizre since a military operation began there last week, Turkey's interior ministry says.

The BBC quoted the ministry saying that most of the dead were Kurdish militants but the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) says 20 civilians were killed in the violence.

International media have said that Cizre has been "under siege" since the military imposed a curfew, with police stopping a delegation of HDP leaders who were trying to reach the south-eastern city on foot, on Thurday.

The group reportedly includes the party's leader Selahattin Demirtas and 30 members of parliament, who say they want to draw attention to what is happening in the mainly Kurdish area.

The BBC adds that the group was intercepted by police near Idil, 28km (17 miles) from Cizre.

Deadly clashes between Turkish forces and the militant Kurdish organisation, the PKK, have intensified since a ceasefire collapsed in July, with Turkish jets bombing PKK bases in northern Iraq and the army boosting security and imposing curfews across the south-east.

Demirtas said the humanitarian situation in Cizre was worsening, with people unable to buy bread or access water.

Interior Minister Selami Altinok said the curfew would continue until the military operation was completed and Demirtas has warned the country was heading towards civil war.

Turkey is to hold new elections in November after it obtained inconclusive polls last January, and in Separate developments, the interim government has deported a Dutch journalist, Freelancer Frederike Geerdink, after being accused of links to the PKK.

Earlier in the month, two British journalists with Vice News were deported while their Iraqi colleague remains in detention.

More than 40,000 people have died since the PKK launched an armed campaign in 1984, calling for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey.

The ceasefire that began in 2013 unravelled in July, after a suicide bombing by suspected Islamic State militants near the border with Syria.