ANKARA (Sputnik) — Two Turkish soldiers were killed in Sirnak Province in the southeast of the country after a mine, allegedly planted on the road by militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), exploded on Tuesday, the Turkish Haberturk TV channel said.
The explosion occurred when the soldiers were carrying out a road check to search for explosive devices planted by the militants.
In late July, Turkey launched a military campaign against the PKK in northern Iraq, following the death of two police officers in the southern city of Ceylanpinar. The PKK claimed responsibility for the killings, saying the policemen had backed the Islamic State extremist group.
On Sunday, an explosion killed two soldiers and wounded 24 others at a police station in eastern Turkey's Dogubeyazit district. The PKK is said to have been behind the attack.
The PKK is a political group that is considered to be a terrorist organization by Ankara. It was founded at the end of the 1970s to fight for Kurdish self-determination. The Kurds are an ethnic group that makes up some 25 percent of the Turkish population.
