News / Turkey

Five Turkish policemen killed in PKK militant attacks

Saturday, 16 April 2016 7:38 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 16 April 2016 10:09 AM ]

Family members mourn over the coffin of a policeman during a funeral ceremony at the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara, Turkey, on April 8, 2016. ©AFP

At least five Turkish police officers have been killed and eight others sustained injuries when militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) carried out two separate attacks in the troubled southeastern provinces of Mardin and Sirnak.

Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said four policemen were killed when PKK militants detonated a roadside bomb in Savur town of Mardin Province, located 745 kilometers (463 miles) east of the capital, Ankara, on Friday.

The sources added that two police officers were also wounded in the act of terror.

Additionally, a member of security personnel was killed and six others wounded as special police forces launched an operation in the Ismetpasha district of Sirnak Province.

A ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed last July and attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

Female militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) man a barricade in the Sur district of Diyarbakir Province, Turkey, on November 18, 2015. ©AFP

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 and Syria.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the 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.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk