SIRNAK, Turkey, Sept. 13 (UPI) — Militants with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, attacked and killed at least three police officers in two cities in southeastern Turkey Sunday, according to reports.
Turkish media reports two of the officers were killed and five injured when the militants detonated a car bomb next to a police checkpoint in the city of Sirnak. Pursuing Turkish troops, backed by helicopter gunships, killed at least five PKK fighters, the BBC reports.
Meanwhile, one police officer was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in the city of Silvan, in the Diyarbakır province. The officer had been inside an excavator on the way to fill in trenches dug by the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement, the youth wing of the PKK, according to Hurriyet Daily News.
Curfews have been implemented in multiple districts around Silvan and the city of Diyarbakır — and re-implemented in Cizre, where the curfew had been dropped on Saturday following an eight-day counter-terrorism operation against the PKK.
Violence between the Turkish government and the PKK erupted in July, shattering a 2013 a cease-fire agreement, after the Kurdish militants reportedly claimed responsibility for killing two police officers in city of Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey.
A July 20 suicide bombing by Islamic State militants killed more than 30 people in the Turkish town of Suruc, prompting the Turkish military to begin bombing IS forces in northern Syria — as well as PKK positions in southeastern Turkey near the borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran.
In August Turkey said it arrested more than 1,300 people with suspected ties to IS, the PKK and leftist groups.
Turkey has since deployed ground troops to combat PKK militants in northern Iraq following multiple attacks against security forces, including Sept. 6 roadside bombings that killed at least 16 Turkish soldiers.
According to the BBC, critics have accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of targeting Kurdish militants to reduce support for the HDP, a pro-Kurdish party that deprived the ruling government of its majority rule during June parliamentary elections, but the Turkish government has denied the allegations.
Selahattin Demirtas, head of the HDP, is reported Sunday to have publicly urged the Ankara government and the PKK to return to peace negotiations.
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