UPDATES DEATH TOLL
ANKARA (AA) – The death toll from a PKK roadside bomb attack in southeastern Turkey has risen to five, the country’s military has said.
Sunday’s blast in Hakkari province claimed four soldiers’ lives at the scene; a fifth soldier passed away later in hospital.
In a statement, the Turkish General Staff said PKK terrorists detonated a bomb in the Semdinli district as a military vehicle passed by.
Earlier on Sunday, the army said one soldier and a village guard were martyred in a bomb blast in Turkey’s eastern province of Van.
Ten soldiers were also injured – one critically – alongside five village guards in a PKK attack at 00.20 a.m. local time (0920GMT).
The attack targeted Pay gendarmerie station in the Ercis district of Van, the military said.
The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.
Since then, nearly 600 security personnel, including troops, police officers and village guards have been martyred and more than 5,000 PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.