News / Turkey

Separate PKK attacks leave six Turkish soldiers dead

Friday, 24 June 2016 11:42 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 24 June 2016 12:20 PM ]

People carry the coffins of two Turkish policemen during a funeral ceremony at Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara, Turkey, on April 8, 2016. ©AFP

At least six Turkish soldiers have lost their lives when members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) launched two separate attacks against government forces in the southeastern provinces of Hakkari and Mardin.

Security sources, requesting anonymity, said PKK militants detonated a roadside bomb by remote control on Friday as army troopers were conducting a military operation near Cimenli village in Hakkari province, located 1,026 kilometers (638 miles) east of the capital Ankara. Four Turkish soldiers were killed in the attack.

Less than an hour earlier, two soldiers had been killed in a clash with PKK terrorists in the Derik district of Mardin province, situated about 1,100 kilometers (683 miles) east of Ankara.

The provincial governor’s office said in a statement that counter-terrorism operations against PKK militants would continue "resolutely" in the area.

The developments came only a day after PKK militants detonated a car rigged with explosives near a gendarme outpost in the town of Omerli, located some 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of the capital, killing a civilian and injuring two police officers.

The civilian was reportedly a truck driver who was passing by in his vehicle.

*Armed female PKK militants are seen behind a barricade in the Sur district of Diyarbakir province, Turkey, on November 18, 2015. ©AFP*

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015, and attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

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 PKK positions 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 Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.

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