Ahmet Budak, an AK Party politician who was an unsuccessful candidate in parliamentary elections last November, was gunned down in the Semdinli district of Hakkari province close to the borders with Iran and Iraq, security sources said.
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Last week, Ankara appointed new administrators in 24 Kurdish-run municipalities, majority in the largely-Kurdish southeast, after removing their mayors over alleged militant links. The military said in a statement that nine militants had been killed in raids on Tuesday, in which a shelter, a cave and an ammunition depot were also destroyed. An operation to capture the militants is underway, sources said.
Four police officers and four Iranian citizens were among those injured in the blast, which took place near government offices. He further complained that the Turkish government has refrained from granting unfettered access to the region.
PKK is regarded as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
Turkish air force fighter jets later launched several airstrikes against PKK positions in the area.
The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc.
Since then, PKK terrorist attacks martyred more than 600 security personnel and also claimed the lives of many civilians, including women and children, while more than 7,000 PKK terrorists were killed in army operations.
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The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since 1984.
