News / Turkey

Three Turkish soldiers killed in PKK roadside bombing attack

Monday, 28 December 2015 7:34 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 28 December 2015 7:34 AM ]

Turkish troops carry the coffin of a comrade killed in an attack in the eastern town of Bitlis during his funeral at the Kocatepe Mosque in the capital, Ankara, December 23, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

At least three Turkish army soldiers have been killed in a bombing attack blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sirnak.

The Turkish Armed Forces said in a statement that the explosion, caused by an improvised explosive device, took place at about 2.40 p.m. local time (1240 GMT) on Sunday, when an armored military vehicle was passing through the Nur neighborhood of the town of Cizre, located about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital, Ankara.

The statement said that apart from the fatalities, one soldier as well as a police officer sustained non-life threatening injuries in the attack.

On December 25, six PKK militants were killed as Turkish forces and Kurdish fighters engaged in fierce skirmishes in Cizre. Two Turkish soldiers also lost their lives and as many sustained injuries during the heavy clashes.

The Turkish General Staff recently announced that at least 205 PKK militants had been killed in operations across southeastern Turkey since December 15.

A militant with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) stands behind a barricade of concrete blocks during clashes with Turkish forces at the Bismil district of Diyarbakir Province, September 28, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

A total of 139 PKK militants were killed in Cizre in Diyarbakir Province, while another 33 were killed in the Sur district of the same province. The rest were from the provinces of Mardin and Bitlis.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the recent past. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against the positions of the group in northern Iraq.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 20 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse the government in Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations.

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