Six killed in fresh PKK bombing, clashes in eastern Turkey

A new bomb attack claimed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and clashes with the militants have killed at least six members of Turkish security forces east of the country.

Local media said Thursday that the bomb attack was carried out in Hizan district of the province of Bitlis about noon local time, when militants detonated a hand-made explosive device placed on a road near Gayda village while a military vehicle was passing.

Reports said five soldiers were killed and six others were wounded in the attack.

The Dogan news agency said a village guard was also killed and another soldier was wounded when clashes erupted in the rural areas of Nazar village in the same area.

The attack came hours after six people were killed and more than 250 people were injured in two separate bomb blasts hitting police stations in the city of Elazig in Eastern Anatolia and in another town in the province of Van.

Turkey has been suffering from bombings and clashes with the PKK since July 2015, when the government declared an end to years of efforts for reconciling with the militants. The Turkish military has also been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against PKK positions in the troubled southeastern border region as well as Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region over the past months.

According to the latest toll provided by the state-run Anadolu news agency in July, more than 600 Turkish security forces and over 7,000 PKK militants have been killed since the collapse of the truce. Ankara says all of those killed in its operations were PKK members. Rights campaigners and Turkey’s pro-Kurdish political parties challenge the figure, saying many civilians have been killed.

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