ANKARA: An improvised bomb attack on a military vehicle killed two soldiers in southeast Turkey on Saturday, with state media blaming Kurdish separatists.
The blast came in the province of Batman, according to the Anadolu news agency, which said the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was behind the attack.
Turkey was already in mourning on Saturday for a 15-year-old killed by PKK militants on Friday in the northeastern city of Trabzon.
Kurdish-dominated southeast Turkey has been hit by near-daily violence since the conflict between the PKK and the government flared up in 2015, ending a fragile cease-fire.
The PKK, which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984, is classed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US.
Also on Saturday, police arrested three men suspected of carrying out murders on behalf of Daesh.
Police conducted simultaneous operations in the southeastern provinces of Sanliurfa and Gaziantep as well as eastern Malatya province.
Polcie said the three men were thought to have been part of a “Daesh execution team.”
The counter-terror operations followed an investigation into a drive-by shooting of a Syrian national in Sanliurfa last month. The gun used in that attack was found on the suspects.
The suspects used chats in phone gaming applications to communicate with Daesh members, according to private Dogan news agency.
The men were thought to have been planning attacks on people working against Daesh.
Kurdish separatists blamed for killing of soldiers
Kurdish separatists blamed for killing of soldiers
