PKK kills six Turkish soldiers, wounds seven more in Turkey’s Siirt

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters launched an attack near a military base in the southeast of Turkey’s Siirt province, reportedly killing six Turkish security members and injuring seven more, security sources said on Friday.

The attack took place in a military base area in the district of Eruh in Siirt province, the source said, stating those killed in the attack were from a village guarded by a militia assisting the Turkish military.

The assault occurred in an area where road construction work was being carried out.

The PKK is a terrorist-designated organization in Turkey, the EU, and the US. Clashes regularly occur in the mainly Kurdish southeast areas of Turkey between Turkish forces and the group, with spring facilitating operations in the mountainous region.

Over the past four decades, 40,000 people are estimated to have been killed in skirmishes between both sides. The conflict intensified after peace talks collapsed in 2015.

Turkish forces and its allied Syrian rebels recently captured the Kurdish enclave of Afrin after launching a two-month military operation against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters in northwestern Syria as Ankara views them as an extension of the PKK.

Editing by Nadia Riva