The Kurdish regional government in Iraq on Saturday called for Kurdish militants fighting Turkey to withdraw from its territory to avoid civilian casualties.
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Ankara appeared to shift its position after a suicide bomber killed 32 people – majority Kurdish activists – in the Turkish border town of Suruç on 20 July.
Officials says two soldiers have been killed and 24 others wounded in a suicide attack by Kurdish rebels in eastern Turkey.
Members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is fighting for more autonomy for minority Kurds, used a tractor loaded with explosives in the attack in Agri province, the governor said.
The soldiers were deployed with the local Jandarma (Gendarmerie), a branch of the army that looks after internal security in Turkey.
The wounded soldiers have been hospitalized, although there has been no word on their conditions.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency has claimed that some 260 rebels were killed in the air raids against PKK targets in northern Iraq.
More fighters also crossed into the area from Turkey as part of the 2013 ceasefire.
The Turkish military on Sunday refuted reports that a village in northern Iraq was bombed during air strikes against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in the Kandil Mountains in northern Iraq.
“For the peace and security of our people, the fight against terror organisations will continue without interruption”, the office of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a statement.
The Turkish government has cast the simultaneous moves against IS and the PKK, as well as the arrest of members of a leftist group, as decisive steps to protect the public and Turkish democracy. “[The] PKK should keep the battlefield out of the region”.
In an interview with the AFP, Kifah Mahmud, a Barzani adviser, noted that “if the PKK did not have bases inside the region, Turkey would not be bombing civilians”. Turkey considers both PKK and IS terrorist organizations.
The leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition has accused Erdogan of launching air strikes in Syria and Iraq to prevent Kurdish territorial and political gains, and of using the war against Daesh as a cover.
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The Turkish government has formally approved an “understanding” that allows the US-led coalition against Islamic State to use the country’s air bases, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on 29 July.
