Police officers killed in PKK attacks in SE Turkey

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — At least five police officers were killed in two separate attacks carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern Turkish provinces of Mardin and Hakkari, according to the Turkish Today’s Zaman news agency on Tuesday.

A roadside bomb was detonated on a passing armored police vehicle in the Demiryolu-Ucyol neighborhood of Mardin, which resulted in the death of three police officers and the wounding of one, Today’s Zaman reported.

Another bomb attacked resulted in the deaths of two police officers and the wounding of two others when the PKK detonated another roadside bomb on the Hakkari-Van Highway in southeastern Hakkari province on Tuesday.

After the attack, a wide-scale operation was launched by Turkish security forces at the scene of the incident.

Turkey and the PKK have been locked in a three-decade conflict in which some 40,000 people have been killed. The conflict re-ignited after the PKK claimed responsibility for the killing of two Turkish policemen in late July.

The resumption of hostilities ended a peace treaty signed between the PKK and Ankara in 2013.