Army, PKK clashes leave three soldiers dead in southeast Turkey
A series of fresh clashes between Turkish army and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have claimed the lives of at least three soldiers in the country’s restive southeast over the past 24 hours.
Turkish military said in a statement on Monday that two soldiers were killed in the Kurdish-dominated province of Sirnak, while another lost his life in neighboring Siirt Province near the Iraqi border.
Turkish officials say a member of its special operations police was among those killed.
The statement added that two PKK militants were killed in the ongoing high-scale military operation across the volatile region.
This comes days after six Turkish soldiers were killed in a bomb attack ripping through a military convoy in the Kurdish-dominated Van Province On May 24. Also on May 18, a bomb attack on military vehicles in the town of Semdinli in Hakkari Province killed four soldiers and wounded nine others.
Turkish sources blamed members of the PKK militant group for the attacks.
The Turkish military has launched large-scale military operations against the PKK militants in its southern border region since last summer. The government has imposed curfew in the areas that have been targeted in the army’s anti-PKK campaign.
The Turkish military has also been pounding the PKK positions in northern Iraq.
Ankara's operations against PKK began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, with the Turkish government blaming the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group for the attack.
Following the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse the government in Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.
A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following the Turkish strikes against the group. The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The conflict has left thousands of people dead.
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