ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – One Turkish soldier was killed and another injured by an improvised explosive device near the eastern border with Iran in an attack blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkish media reported. This spring has seen a spate of deadly clashes between Turkish security forces and the armed Kurdish group.
The attack occurred early in the morning on May 10 near Dilucu, Igdir province, state-run Anadolu Agency reported citing security sources. Turkish forces are conducting a counter-terror operation in the area.
In 2015, a bombing in the same Dilucu area killed 14 Turkish policemen who were guarding customs officials commuting to the border with Azerbaijan. The PKK was blamed.
The PKK has not immediately made any claim of responsibility for the today’s attack.
The attack occurred early in the morning on May 10 near Dilucu, Igdir province, state-run Anadolu Agency reported citing security sources. Turkish forces are conducting a counter-terror operation in the area.
In 2015, a bombing in the same Dilucu area killed 14 Turkish policemen who were guarding customs officials commuting to the border with Azerbaijan. The PKK was blamed.
The PKK has not immediately made any claim of responsibility for the today’s attack.
Source: Google maps
Clashes between the PKK and Turkish forces this spring have been intense, with multiple casualties reported on both sides of the conflict in Turkey and in the Kurdistan Region. Last weekend, Turkish helicopter gunships pursued PKK guerrillas across the Turkey-Kurdistan Region border, terrifying local villagers. Both sides claimed to have inflicted casualties on the other in multiple clashes in late April and four Turkish soldiers were killed in a skirmish on the border earlier in the month. Two soldiers had been killed inside the Kurdistan Region territory in March.
For the last four decades that the PKK has carried out its struggle against the Turkish state, the mountains between Iraq, Iran, and Turkey have served as a safe haven for the guerrillas. Local residents have been driven out of the homes by the conflict and the fighting sees no sign of abating as the melting of the snow ushers in a new wave of attacks by both parties to the conflict.
At least 4,356 people have been killed since a peace process fell apart and the four-decade-long conflict was reignited in July 2015, according to figures compiled by the International Crisis Group. The casualties include 2,515 PKK fighters, 1,154 members of state security forces, and 464 civilians.
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