Turkish jets raided suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border in northern Iraq, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Thursday, following a wave of attacks that killed at least 12 people.
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Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants killed at least 12 civilians in three separate attacks in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday.
The attack in Kiziltepe was caused by a roadside bomb that went off as a police bus was passing by.
Two civilians were killed and 50 others wounded when a roadside bomb was detonated by PKK militants in Kiziltepe district of Mardin province, according to an official.
Meanwhile, a auto bomb targeting police in the historic Diyarbakir city killed at least five civilians and wounded 12 others, according to the governor’s office. The explosion occurred at a security checkpoint at a bridge over the Tigris river.
The attacks came hours after an earlier attack, also blamed on the PKK, killed four soldiers and injured nine others near the border with Iraq.
Since the PKK abandoned its ceasefire previous year, Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast has seen its worst violence in two decades. Since then, Turkish jets have frequently raided PKK targets in cross-border operations.
Turkish media reports that PKK leader Cemil Nayik threatened attacks against Turkish police earlier this week.
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The PKK, designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. Turkey and its allies consider the group a terror organization.
