PKK attacks injure 12 police officers, kill soldier in s.eastern Turkey


A Turkish soldier was killed in an armed attack in Nusaybin in Turkey's southeast, the armed forces said in a statement on Saturday.The soldier was injured having been attacked by members of the "separatist terrorist organization" [PKK] during operations against the group, and was taken to hospital. He could not be saved and died by 1100 local time (0800 GMT), the statement said.

Later on in the day, a dozen police officers and a civilian were injured in another PKK bomb attack.

The terror attack on the Mardin-Diyarbakır highway in southeastern Turkey targeted a bus carrying police returning to Diyarbakır from Nusaybin.

Security forces have been conducting a counter-terrorism operation in Nusaybin, a town on the Syrian border, since mid-March.

The policemen, two of whom were seriously wounded, were taken to hospitals in Mardin and Diyarbakir provinces.

The PKK is listed as terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU. Security forces have been conducting anti-terror operations since late 2015 in an effort to clear PKK terrorists from urban areas in the country's southeastern provinces.