At least three people, including one police officer, were killed and 30 others, including five police officers, were injured when a handmade roadside explosive was detonated by terrorist organization PKK as a police vehicle was passing by in the Kiziltepe district of the southeastern Mardin province, said Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan.
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Diyarbakir: At least eight people, mostly civilians, were killed on Wednesday in two separate bomb attacks targeting police blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Turkey’s southeast, officials said.
Simultaneously, a auto bomb explosion in Diyarbakir province wounded several police officers, the official said.
In a near simultaneous blast, which was also blamed on the PKK, a auto bomb exploded in Diyarbakir, the capital of the province with the same name, killing at least four civilians, the Dogan news agency reported. The injured included at least five children aged between 2 and 5, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.
-By Suzan Fraser in Ankara.
The PKK has kept up attacks after the July 15 failed coup during which a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.
Earlier in the day, five soldiers were killed and 9 wounded when militants opened fire with rockets and long-range weapons from across the border in northern Iraq. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also died.
The United States on Wednesday strongly condemned the terror attacks in southeastern Turkey and reaffirmed its commitment to supporting its ally in the fight against terrorism.
A ceasefire was broken past year, with attacks between the government and PKK leaving hundreds dead.
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The suspects, accused of having links to the PKK or other pro-Kurdish groups, were charged with “being a member of a terrorist organisation, recruiting members for a terrorist organisation and organising illegal demonstrations”, the state-funded Anadolu Agency reported.
