Turkish troops hit by suicide bomber in Dogubayezit

Posted: 2 Aug 2015

Turkish troops hit by suicide bomber in Dogubayezit

Two Turkish security troops have been killed and 24 wounded in a suicide attack by Kurdish PKK militants, the regional governor's office says.

A tractor laden with explosives was driven at a military police station, reports by Turkish media say.

The attack happened near the town of Dogubayazit in Agri province, close to Turkey's border with Iran.

Since 24 July, Turkey has carried out hundreds of air raids on PKK bases on both sides of the Iraq-Turkey border.

The Turkish state news agency, Anadolu, said that the attack happened at around 03:00 local time (00:00 GMT).

It said that the tractor was carrying two tons of explosives that were detonated by a suicide bomber.

Images in the Turkish press showed a badly-damaged building with the roof destroyed.

The regional governor did not say how the PKK had been identified as the group behind the blast. The PKK has not commented.

AFP said it would be the first time the PKK was accused of deploying a suicide bomber during recent clashes.

Turkey says the group was behind a number of attacks in the last two weeks:

    On Sunday, a Turkish soldier was killed and four others hurt when a mine exploded under their convoy in the south-east of the country
    On Friday, five people died when a police station and a railway line were targeted
    On Thursday, three troops died in the southern Sirnak province after gunmen opened fire on their convoy

Turkey's official news agency says about 260 Kurdish fighters have been killed in strikes in northern Iraq and Turkey since 24 July. It has also targeted positions held by the Islamic State group.

Further Turkish air raids were reported early on Saturday, this time in the Rawanduz area east of Erbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdish region.

At least six people were killed and several more wounded in the town of Zarkel, local officials said. They reportedly included at least two women.

Turkey considers both the PKK and IS terrorist organisations.

The PKK was established in 1978 and called for an independent state within Turkey - a country that now has 15m Kurds.

In 1984, the group began an armed struggle.

Since then, more than 40,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced, but in 2012, the government and PKK began peace talks and the following year a ceasefire was agreed.