Turkish jets strike PKK targets in southeast in response to attack on

Two soldiers were killed and two others wounded today in southeast Turkey when a mine exploded in an attack blamed on militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), security sources said. In a day of apparent tit-for-tat violence, shortly after the raids by F-16 jets, another soldier was killed and one wounded when militants attacked a guard post in Sirnak with a rocket-propelled grenade.

Violence has flared between Turkish troops and PKK fighters after 32 pro-Kurdish activists were killed last month in a town close to the Syrian border.

Turkish security officials said that the PKK members planted an explosive device on the side of a road near the village of Araköy in Şırnak, “and detonated it when a Turkish armored vehicle approached the location”.

The PKK and Ankara agreed a truce in late 2012 but peace talks since then have failed to make much headway in resolving a conflict which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Meanwhile, an explosion hit a natural gas pipeline transporting gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey in the eastern province of Kars, the Anatolia news agency said.

Earlier on Monday, two Turkish soldiers were injured in another landmine explosion triggered by PKK members in the southeastern Diyarbakir province, said the report.

There was no immediate claim but the PKK has repeatedly targeted energy infrastructure in Turkey in the past.

The “solution process” refers to dialogue between the Turkish government and the PKK, which began in 2013 but has been stalled after recent murders of a number of police officers and soldiers in the country.

Ankara is waging a two-pronged cross-border “anti-terror” bombing campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and PKK rebels in northern Iraq.