News / Turkey

‘Two Turkish policemen slain in PKK militant attacks’

Tuesday, 09 August 2016 6:13 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 09 August 2016 6:47 AM ]

Relatives react over a coffin during the funeral ceremony for four police officers killed in a bomb attack on their vehicle in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir, at the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara, April 1, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Two Turkish police officers have been killed by militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in two separate attacks in Turkey’s southeast, officials say.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said PKK militants detonated a roadside bomb by remote control late on Monday as a military vehicle was traveling along a road in the Uludere district of Sirnak Province, situated some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) east of the capital, Ankara.

The source added that a policeman, identified as Yahya Akan, was wounded in the attack. He was transported to hospital, where he succumbed to his grave injuries.

Separately, PKK terrorists attacked Camlica Village in Adiyaman Province, critically wounding a policeman named Yusuf Sonmez, who likewise died of his injuries later.

Turkish military forces have been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against PKK positions in Turkey’s troubled southeastern border region as well as in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region over the past few months.

The campaign began following a July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, which claimed more than 30 civilian lives. Turkish officials held the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group responsible for the act of terror.

Armed female PKK militants are seen behind a barricade in the Sur district of Diyarbakir Province, southeastern Turkey, November 18, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

The PKK militants, who accuse the Ankara government of supporting Daesh, launched a string of attacks against Turkish security forces after the bombing, prompting the Turkish military operations in response.

The Ankara government’s involvement in the anti-PKK operations comes as the Turkish military is reeling from the aftereffects of a failed coup attempt on July 15.

Turkish authorities have dismissed hundreds of army generals and admirals as well as low-ranking military personnel over allegations of involvement in the botched putsch.

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