The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has been locked in bloody conflict with the Turkish state for more than four decades, decided to disband and end its armed struggle, a news agency close to the group reported on Monday, reports Reuters.

"The PKK has completed its historic mission," the group said, according to the Firat news agency, which published what it said was the closing declaration of a congress that the PKK held last week in northern Iraq where it is based.

The PKK held the congress in response to a call in February from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to disband.

"The PKK 12th Congress decided to dissolve the PKK'S organizational structure, with the practical process to be managed and carried out by Leader Apo, and to end the armed struggle method," the statement said, using Ocalan's nickname

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.