Security sources also blamed that attack, in Sirnak province, on the PKK.
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The European Union showed its support for Turkey following two separate PKK bomb attacks in the country’s southeast, an official statement said Thursday.
Three civilians were killed by roadside explosives detonated by remote control in the town of Kiziltepe in the Mardin province, near the Syrian border.
The Diyarbakir bombing hit a bridge, killing five people and injuring at least 12 people and perhaps as many as 30 others.
Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast has seen its worst violence in two decades since the PKK abandoned a 2-1/2-year ceasefire last year.
Turkey is still recovering from July 15’s violent coup attempt. The government has blamed the failed coup on the supporters of US -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on his followers.
As well as fighting the PKK, Turkey is battling so-called Islamic State, whose militants have carried out a series of bloody attacks over the past year.
The U.S. also “strongly” denounced the attacks, with Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter calling them “despicable” in a statement.
“The United States remains committed to cooperating closely with Turkey – bilaterally, within the Counter-ISIL Coalition, and within North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – in order to defend our nations against common threats”, he said. Both attacks were reportedly believed to be the work of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Since then more than 600 security personnel including soldiers, police officers and village guards have been killed while and more than 7,000 PKK terrorists have been killed in various operations across Turkey and northern Iraq, Trend.az reported. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians also have died.
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It said the detainees were accused of “terror group membership”, recruitment and staging illegal protests.
