Fourteen Turkish police were killed Tuesday in a new attack by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants as violence in the east of the country threatened to spiral out of control.
That attack came two days after 16 Turkish soldiers were killed in a twin roadside bomb attack in Daglica in the southeastern region of Hakkari, according to the army, the deadliest strike in the current phase of the conflict.
In response, the Turkish air force pounded targets of the PKK in northern Iraq and special ground forces crossed the border in a rare land incursion.
The PKK initially took up arms in 1984 with the aim of establishing an independent state for Turkey's Kurdish minority, although lately the demands focused on greater autonomy and rights.
