News / Turkey

Three Turkish police killed in PKK roadside bomb attack in Sirnak

Monday, 18 January 2016 10:40 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 18 January 2016 1:07 PM ]

The wife of slain Turkish police officer Musa Yuce expresses her grief above his flag-draped coffin during his funeral in the Sur district of Diyarbakir Province, Turkey, on January 4, 2016. © AFP

At least three Turkish policemen have been killed and four others wounded in a bomb explosion that ripped through their armored military vehicle in the country’s restive southeastern province of Sirnak.

Security sources, who asked not to be named, said on Monday that the incident took place in the town of Idil near the border with conflict-stricken Syria at 11:30 p.m. local time (2130 GMT) on Sunday as a police convoy was passing near the municipality building.

The sources blamed members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for the attack.

PKK terrorists simultaneously launched an attack on a local military base, prompting officials to demand reinforcements from the town of Cizre, located about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital, Ankara. There were no reports of casualties.

Militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) stand behind a barricade during clashes with Turkish forces in the Bismil district of Diyarbakir Province, Turkey, on September 28, 2015. © AFP

Separately, PKK militants fired a rocket at a police armored vehicle in the city of Diyarbakir, situated 676 kilometers (420 miles) east of Ankara, at around 00:30 a.m. on Monday (2230 GMT Sunday).

The projectile missed the car and hit a transformer instead, triggering a blast that cut off power supplies in the area

Over dozen PKK militants slain in southeast Turkey

Meanwhile, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement on Sunday that security forces had shot and killed a dozen PKK militants during heavy fighting in Cizre.

Later in the day, PKK militants launched an attack on the Sur district of Diyarbakır Province, leaving a Turkish soldier dead.

Women react after a mortar hit a house during clashes between Turkish police and militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Sur district of Diyarbakir Province, Turkey, on January 3, 2016. © AFP

On Saturday, a 35-year-old police officer, identified as Ali Bulduk, succumbed to the gunshot wounds he had sustained during fierce clashes with PKK militants in the same district.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. 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 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

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

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