2 soldiers dead, 24 wounded in suicide attack in Turkey

At least two Turkish soldiers were killed and 24 others were injured in a suspected suicide attack in Turkey’s eastern Agri province early on Sunday, an official statement said.

Ankara has launched a two-pronged “anti-terror” offensive against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria and PKK militants after a wave of attacks inside the country.

The heaviest air strikes were on Thursday, when 80 Turkish aircraft hit 100 targets of the PKK, according to Turkish news agency Anatolia.

Decades of fighting between Turkey and the PKK, which initially sought an independent state for the Kurds before calling instead for greater autonomy for the ethnic minority, ended with a historic but fragile ceasefire in March 2013.

Clashes were also reported overnight in Nusaybin on the Turkish-Syrian border between the PKK’s youth organization and police, DHA said.

After some media outlets claimed that Turkish military airstrikes killed civilians in northern Iraq, Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that Turkey would launch an investigation into the incident.

The president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region called on the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) Saturday to “withdraw” from Iraq’s Kurdish territory to prevent civilian casualties during Turkey’s airstrikes.

Kurdish People’s Protection Units fighters take up positions inside a damaged building in al-Vilat al-Homor neighborhood in Hasakah city, Syria as they monitor the movements of Islamic State fighters who are stationed in the city’s Ghwayran neighborhood, July 22, 2015. The statement calls on both sides to resume peace talks.

The attack comes amid an escalation of violence between the government and the Kurdish rebels, with Turkey conducting nearly daily airstrikes at PKK bases in northern Iraq, and the rebels attacking security forces.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Company stated Saturday that as many as 28 F-16 jets raided 65 PKK targets in northern Iraq, together with shelters and ammunition depots on Friday.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan initiated negotiations in 2012 to try to end the PKK insurgency, largely fought in the predominantly-Kurdish southeast and which has killed 40,000 people since 1984.

Many governments, including Turkey, Britain and the US, classify the PKK as a banned terrorist organisation.