The roadside bombing killed five Turkish soldiers and a village guard and injured five others in Bitlis province – as Kurdish rebels detonated the explosive device as a troop convoy went by.
Advertisement
About 11 individuals were killed and more than 120 hurt after a string of vehicle bombs targeting police stations exploded in Turkey.
Since July 2015, over 500 members of Turkish security forces and thousands of PKK members have been killed in confrontations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq, and more than 40,000 people have lost their lives in clashes with the PKK since 1984, when the group first started anti-government attacks.
The attacks, all in the eastern part of the country, were all targeted against security forces personnel. This one resulted in three people killed and at least 73 injured.
The first two were auto bombings that hit police stations in eastern Turkey, followed by a roadside blast that targeted a military vehicle carrying soldiers in the southeast of the country.
Four soldiers were also injured in the attack.
A vehicle bomb exploded Wednesday night in front of Police Department Headquarters in the eastern province of Elazığ, killing at least three people and injuring 146 others.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirum said the attacks Thursday are an indication the PKK, founded in 1978 as a socialist revolutionary organization, is weakening and resorting to suicide bombings.
Advertisement
A ceasefire between the PKK and the government collapsed past year, leading to a resumption of the three-decade long violence.
