Two police killed in suicide bombing in eastern Turkey

Bilgiç said that the coalition aircraft flying from Turkish bases could target Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, but were not authorised to provide air support to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.

Militants drove the tractor, which was filled with two tons of TNT, into a military outpost in the Dogubeyazit district of the eastern Agri province bordering Iran.

The Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq have long tolerated the presence of PKK fighters in its remote mountains, but the regional president Massud Barzani said it was time the group took its battle with Turkey elsewhere to avoid civilian casualties.

So far the majority of Turkish air raids have been against the PKK rather than Isis forces. But while North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is pleased with Turkey’s newfound eagerness to fight IS, it is hesitant about Turkey’s aims towards the Kurds.

Pro-Kurdish news media said that at least nine civilians were killed on Saturday in a Turkish air raid on a Kurdish village in northern Iraq.

A vehicle bomb blast killed two Turkish soldiers Sunday and injured at least 31 others as violence escalated between the Turkish government and the Kurdish population inside and outside Turkey.

The PKK, which accuses the government of collaborating with IS, shot dead two Turkish police in reprisal, starting a wave of violence that has shattered a 2013 ceasefire. “We have to sit down with the Turks and figure it out”, a senior Obama administration official said in a briefing with reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Turkey’s foreign ministry said on Saturday the strike on Zargala was targeting senior PKK commanders and accused PKK militants of using civilians as human shields.

The military also said that targets were struck after “careful and detailed work” on the basis of visual data verified by its “skilled staff”.

“We condemn the bombing, which led to the martyrdom of the citizens of the Kurdish region, and we call on Turkey to not to repeat the bombing of civilians”, Barzani said in the statement, which also called for continued peace talks.

On Thursday, the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper reported 30 warplanes attacked PKK camps “in Zap, Metina, and Haftanin regions in northern Iraq where the members of the terorrist organization are densely populated”.

Government officials countered that leaders simply moved decisively to protect the public at a precarious moment, in which both IS and the PKK – sworn enemies of each other – had mobilized simultaneously in Turkey.

To further limit the influence of Kurds in Turkish politics, Erdogan has also threatened to strip members of parliament of diplomatic immunity and prosecute them for ties to the PKK. Four soldiers, who were critically wounded, were also transferred to Erzurum with military helicopters.