News / Turkey

PKK bombing kills two soldiers in southeast Turkey

Wednesday, 29 June 2016 5:08 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 29 June 2016 5:15 PM ]

Turkish soldiers are seen outside Lice district in Diyarbakir, June 26, 2016. (AFP)

Two Turkish soldiers were killed and three others injured in a roadside bomb explosion that targeted a military vehicle in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday, security sources say.

Militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) detonated by remote control the bomb they had earlier planted near a village in the Derik district of the southeastern province of Mardin at about 3:10 p.m. local time (1210 GMT), ripping apart the armored vehicle, the sources said.

The roadside blast took place in the wake of a shooting attack and triple bombings at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Tuesday. Authorities said at least 41 people were killed and nearly 240 others injured in the acts of terror, which were claimed by the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

Turkish police officers secure the main entrance of the Istanbul Ataturk Airport on June 28, 2016, after triple explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's biggest airport. (AFP photo)

Earlier, the Turkish army said two soldiers were killed and another three injured in two PKK assaults in Diyarbakir province on Tuesday evening.

According to the army’s statement, the militants carried out the attack in Diyarbakir’s Lice area, injuring four soldiers, one of whom succumbed to his injuries in hospital. The militants shot dead another soldier in the Bismil district after he got out of a vehicle in front of his house.

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 PKK positions in northern Iraq and Syria.

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015 in the wake of a deadly bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. The Turkish government blamed the attack on Daesh. After the bombing, the PKK, which accuses Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting Ankara's campaign.

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

www.presstv.co.uk