Soldiers killed in bomb attack in eastern #Turkey

The group accused the policemen of having links with ISIS and masterminding a bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc that killed dozens of civilians.

A PKK member was also captured alive, security sources said, adding that many homes and offices were also damaged in the incident. “That’s the fear”, said Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based author and veteran researcher on Kurdish issues in Turkey.

Pro-Kurdish opposition politicians who acted as intermediaries in the talks have been prevented by the state from visiting the PKK leader, imprisoned on Imrali island in the Marmara Sea, since before a June parliamentary election.

“Fighting against ISIS [Islamic State] makes us feel good like we are doing something good for humanity”, 25-year-old female commander Dilan Serdar told Rudaw News. The statement was criticized by the PKK and many Kurds for not going as far as condemning the Turkish attacks. While the cops have detained a small number of Islamic State suspects, many “have been quietly released”, reported the New York Times.

“How can the PKK lay down their weapons?”

Shoot-outs between Turkish and PKK forces also ensued throughout the night.

Gunter, an expert on Kurds and a professor at the Tennessee Technological University in the United States, put the most blame on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish government interrupted the Twitter service temporarily and forbade publication of photos or videos of the attack for a while.

“The government says he is OK but how can we know they’re not lying?”

The official said the Incirlik-based F-16s are equipped with surveillance and reconnaissance equipment in addition to weapons, and thus can be used to verify targeting information that may be provided by local Syrians or Iraqis cooperating with the U.S. A total of six F-16s are operating from Incirlik; they are from the 31st Fighter Wing based at Aviano, Italy. This is in addition to the 1,700 U.S. forces that had already been stationed there, according to Defense Department data.

The senior U.S. defense official in Washington said the two governments are working on a memorandum of understanding that would set the terms under which Turkish warplanes would be integrated into the U.S.-led air campaign. “Who are then going to fight against Islamic State“, he asked referring to the Kurdish areas of Syria, known as Rojava, where PKK-affiliated militants are fighting ISIS.

Turkey remains anxious that the Kurdish YPG militia will try to declare independence and absorb parts of Turkey with Kurdish population.

Restrictions that were previously applied to websites linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been in place since July 25 for those close to the PKK and the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).