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Two more Turkish soldiers killed in PKK militant attack

Honor guard carry the coffin of a fallen Turkish soldier as army commanders, political leaders and family members attend a funeral ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, on December 23, 2015. (©AP)

Two Turkish army soldiers were killed Friday in an attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on government forces in the volatile southeastern province of Sirnak.

Turkish military sources said the troopers lost their lives when PKK members mounted an ambush in the town of Idil near the border with conflict-stricken Syria.

Earlier in the day, two police officers were killed in a car bomb attack carried out by the PKK in the southeastern city of Nusaybin. The Mardin Governor’s Office said in a statement that 35 people, including two civilians, were injured in the bombing.

Security sources said the attack at about 5:45 a.m. local time (0345 GMT) caused significant damage to a traffic police station and neighboring houses in Nusaybin.

Security reinforcements as well as emergency personnel were sent to the area, the sources added.

In this photo taken on February 3, 2016, people look at their destroyed homes and shops in the Sur district of Diyarbakir Province, southeastern Turkey. (©AP)

A ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed last July, and attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

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 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse 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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