Three policemen, a 12-year-old boy and three Kurdish forces died Sunday in continuing violence in Turkey’s restive Kurdish-dominated southeast, a local security source said.
Two policemen were shot dead by gunmen in the center of the provincial capital Diyarbakir while a third was killed in Silopi in the neighboring Sirnak Province, AFP reported.
The source blamed the attack on Kurdistan Workers’ Party forces who are blamed to have staged daily attacks against Turkish armed forces as the military keeps up air raids and operations against its strongholds in southeast Turkey as well as northern Iraq.
Another report said a child, three other civilians and two police officers were killed in Sunday’s violence.
Three young Kurds from the youth wing of PKK were meanwhile killed by security forces in Silopi, according to local officials.
A 12-year-old boy was killed by a landmine, local officials said, in the Silvan district of Diyarbakir. The death was also blamed on PKK.
Some 60 members of the Turkish security forces have been killed over the past five weeks as PKK has hit back at a relentless government air and ground campaign, in the most significant losses sustained by the military and police in recent years.
On July 24, Ankara launched a “two-pronged war” against Islamic State militants in Syria as well as PKK positions in northern Iraq, although the bombardments so far have been largely concentrated on PKK positions. PKK has been designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, US and EU.
