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Eight Turkish soldiers, 21 militants die

After the collapse of a ceasefire, Turkey's southeast has seen some of its worst violence since the height of the Kurdish insurgency.

Turkish police officers secure the area at the site of a blast

Four people have been killed and 17 wounded in a bomb blast in southeast Turkey. (AAP)

Eight Turkish soldiers and 21 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been killed, as violence in the largely Kurdish southeast widened a day after two bombings.

After the collapse of a ceasefire between the PKK and the government last July, Turkey's southeast has seen some of its worst violence since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s.

Six soldiers were killed and eight were wounded in clashes with militants in the southeastern Hakkari province, the military said in a statement.

Two more soldiers were killed in a separate incident when a military helicopter crashed in Hakkari due to a technical fault, the military said. Six PKK militants were also killed in an operation in that region, it said.

Fifteen militants were killed in clashes in Sirnak province, broadcaster NTV reported, citing the Turkish military.

On Thursday, four suspected bomb makers were killed and 17 people wounded when an explosion ripped through a village in the southeast as PKK militants loaded explosives onto a small truck, the government said.

That blast was just hours after an explosives-laden car blew up near a military base in Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul, wounding six soldiers and a civilian.

No one has claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombing in Istanbul.

Turkey has suffered a series of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a PKK offshoot.


2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



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