News / Turkey

PKK attack leaves 3 policemen wounded in SE Turkey

Wednesday, 20 January 2016 9:36 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 20 January 2016 10:50 AM ]

Turkish police officers secure the area around a destroyed police station compound in Cinar district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakir on January 14, 2016. (© AP)

At least three Turkish police officers have sustained injuries in an attack by militants affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

Police sources, requesting not to be named, said security police were conducting a clean-up operation in the Sur district of the province on Tuesday, trying to remove barricades and cover up ditches dug by PKK militants, when Kurdish militants opened fire on them.

Three special operations police officers were wounded in the attack. They were transported to Diyarbakir Military Hospital, where one of the policemen is reportedly in critical condition.

The development came only a day after at least two Turkish police officers lost their lives and nearly a dozen others were injured when a rocket attack targeted their armored military vehicle in the city of Sirnak, situated some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) east of the capital, Ankara.

One police officer died on the site, while another succumbed to his wounds later at Sirnak Public Hospital. Ten other policemen are currently receiving treatment at the medical facility.

Relatives react after a woman died at her home when a mortar shell hit it during clashes between Turkish forces and PKK militants in the Sur district of Diyarbakir Province, southeastern Turkey, on January 3, 2016. (© AFP)

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against the positions of the group in northern Iraq.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accused the government in Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.

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