Twin PKK attacks kill 4 Turkish soldiers: report

Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed four Turkish soldiers on Sunday in two separate attacks, local media reported. Three soldiers were killed during a military operation in Ordu, located on the Black Sea coast in northeastern Turkey, the province’s governor said in comments carried by private Dogan news agency.

Irfan Balkanlioglu said the soldiers were shot by PKK militants and two others were injured, Dogan, said. The operation, in Mesudiye district, was continuing. In another attack, one soldier was killed and six were wounded in clashes with PKK militants in the southeastern province of Hakkari, the army said in a statement.

One soldier was seriously wounded, the army added. The state-run Anadolu news agency reported the clashes occurred in Altinsu district. The fatalities occurred two days after eight soldiers were killed in fighting with Kurdish militants, the deadliest attack on the military since the failed July 15 coup.

The attempted power grab saw a rogue group within the armed forces try to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has retaliated with a massive purge of the military.

More than 600 Turkish security force members have been killed by the PKK in attacks since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July last year, according to a toll given by Anadolu. The government has responded with military operations against the guerrilla group, killing more than 7,000 militants in Turkey and northern Iraq, the agency said. Activists claim civilians have also been killed in the offensives. Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK —proscribed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union (EU) and the United States —first took up arms in 1984.