Five Turkish soldiers killed, eight wounded in Turkey's Sirnak

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – At least five Turkish soldiers were killed, and eight others were injured in an attack in the Kurdish Province of Sirnak, southeast of Turkey, security sources said on Wednesday.

The attack was believed to be carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters, but the group has not yet claimed responsibility for the violence.

According to the security sources, the PKK opened fire with rockets and long-range weapons in the area, targeting a military vehicle as it passed in Sirnak’s Uludere district.

The attack killed at least five Turkish soldiers, and wounded eight more, a security source revealed.

Moreover, on Aug. 5, PKK attacked a Turkish military base with artilleries in the Tukeli (Gare) area of Shamzinli (Shamzinan), Hakkari (Colemerg) Province in the southeast of Turkey.

At least two soldiers were killed, and six more wounded during the assault, Kurdistan24 reporter Hassan Kako stated.

Turkey, the European Union, and the United States have labeled the PKK a terrorist organization. The group had taken up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.

Since then, over 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have lost their lives. Moreover, tens of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced or move to secured areas.

Clashes between the PKK-armed wings and the Turkish army deepened in the Kurdistan of Turkey (Bakur) following the July 2015 governmental elections in the country.

Recently, the Turkish government presented a draft bill to the Parliament to promote Cizire and Yuksekova as new provinces and downgrade Sirnak and Colemerg to districts.

The bill was met with backlash and angered the Kurdish people whose provinces were downgraded.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany