News / Turkey

PKK bombing kills three soldiers in southeast Turkey

Monday, 25 July 2016 2:50 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 25 July 2016 2:50 PM ]

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

At least three Turkish police officers have lost their lives in a roadside bomb attack carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the embattled southeastern province of Mardin.

According to Turkish security officials, the fatalities occurred on Monday when PKK militants targeted a Turkish police convoy passing a highway at about 1:20 p.m. local time (1020 GMT) in the Derik district of Mardin province.

The officials said the explosives planted on the highway were detonated remotely.

Reports said an operation to arrest the PKK militants involved in the attack is underway in the region.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region over the past 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.

A man looks on among damaged buildings in historical district of Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, on May 22, 2016, following clashes between Turkish forces and PKK militants. ©AFP

After the Suruc 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.

Meanwhile, Turkey is on tenterhooks after a putsch that began on July 15, when a faction of the Turkish military declared it was in control of the country and the Ankara administration was no more in charge. Tanks, helicopters and soldiers then clashed with police and people on the streets of the capital and Istanbul.

Demonstrators, seen through a hole in a hotel’s window near Istanbul's Taksim Square, wave Turkish flags on July 24, 2016 during a rally to condemn the coup attempt in the country. ©AFP

The coup was suppressed by military forces and people loyal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. More than 300 people were killed from both sides, many of them on July 16.

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