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Seven killed in turkey bomb blasts

The agency said the raid was carried out Wednesday hours after Turkish military vehicles were attacked near the border with Iraq, killing four soldiers.

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Turkey is still dealing with the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15 that killed more than 240 people and wounded 2,200.

Turkish police detained 17 people as part of an operation aimed at Kurdish militants early on Thursday, conducting raids across Istanbul, including at the offices of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), state-run Anadolu Agency said.

At the same time, a auto bomb explosion targeting police in a historic part of the city Diyarbakir killed at least five civilians and wounded 12 others, the Diyarbakir governor’s office said.

The attack in Diyarbakir took place at a security checkpoint at a bridge over the Tigris river.

Local authorities believe the PKK, a group that both Turkey and the USA identify as terrorists, is behind the bombing attacks.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and European Union, resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in 2015.

The group frequently uses auto bombs and roadside explosives.

Turkey frequently launches air attacks against PKK targets in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq near the shared border, where the PKK leadership has camps.

Four civilians were killed when roadside explosives were detonated by remote control near a hospital in the town of Kiziltepe in Mardin province, near the Syrian border, in an attack that targeted a bus carrying police, the sources said.

More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK began activities in 1984.

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The country is also combating the Islamic State group, whose militants have carried out a series of bloody attacks in Turkey in the past year.

Two Turkish Soldiers Killed, Two More Injured During PKK Attack