Members of the PKK terrorist group killed 10 people late on Thursday, including village guards and two soldiers, in a serious attack at a checkpoint on the outskirts of a mountain in eastern Turkey.

Village guards or "korucus," a volunteer force of armed civilians cooperating with the army in anti-terror operations, were manning a checkpoint near a village on the outskirts of Tendürek near the Turkish-Iranian border when the PKK hit. Militants armed with long-range rifles killed seven village guards and two soldiers, while a retired village guard who rushed to help when he heard the gunshots was killed by a grenade hurled by the militants. PKK members fled the scene where five others, including three soldiers, were injured. The army launched artillery fire on PKK targets discovered near the scene following the attack and anti-terror operations were under way as of Friday.

This latest attack adds to a death toll of over 600 people killed since last summer when the terrorist group resumed its campaign of violence after a brief lull. Southeastern and eastern regions of Turkey where a predominantly Kurdish population live are among the most targeted areas by the PKK, which claims to fight for Kurdish self-rule there. The terrorist group's violent campaign, has since the 1980s, killed tens of thousands of people, and its atrocities are not limited to the region as the group carried out multiple bombings in large Turkish cities in the West as well.

Ankara has declared a "freeze" on the reconciliation process it initiated a few years ago to resolve the so-called Kurdish question and end PKK terrorism after the group relaunched its attacks indiscriminately targeting police, military and civilians. Since then, security forces relentlessly pursued an escalated anti-terror campaign in the region as well as in Northern Iraq, whose mountainous territory near the border with Turkey serves as a hideout for senior cadres of the PKK. Hundreds of militants were killed in airstrikes and land operations in the country and in Iraq last year and this year. The latest operation was in Şemdinli, a hotbed of PKK violence, and security sources said five terrorists were killed in anti-terror operations. Among the casualties were suspects involved in the killing of a local politician in Hakkari province where Şemdinli is located. Ahmet Budak, who ran for a parliamentary seat from Hakkari for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was killed in front of his house as he was getting into a car with his young son on Wednesday. Three suspects were killed by artillery fire in anti-terror operations in a rural part of Şemdinli, media outlets reported. Anti-terror operations were also carried out in nearby provinces and towns on Friday. Security sources said 204 terrorists have been killed in the operations this week so far in Çukurca, another southeastern town located near the Iraqi border.

Newly appointed Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu pledged a further escalation of anti-terror operations. "We will not be tolerant of terror. We will ensure that the technical and intelligence equipment at hand is ready on the field. We will cut their [PKK terrorists] ability to move completely. And I repeat again, we will not be merciful," Soylu said earlier this week.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also vowed for continuous anti-terror operations "until not one terrorist is left," but the government assumes that the PKK presence will be significantly curbed within a few months.