Kurds Blamed for 2 Turkish Police Deaths, 24 Injuries in Explosion

Kurdish militants have raided a Turkish police station and fired on railway workers in two separate attacks, leaving five people dead.

A vehicle loaded with explosives rammed into a military police station located in Dogubayazit district of eastern Agri province, near Turkey’s border with Iran.

A suicide bomber drove the tractor carrying two tons of explosives into the military building.

Turkish diplomatic sources said coalition forces will also be able to use the Diyarbakir, Malatya and Batman air bases.

At least 21 people, mostly security forces, have been killed in 11 days of attacks and clashes in Turkey.

In an attempt to allay Turkish concerns that the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish state in northern Syria would inspire a re-escalation of the Kurdish insurgency in Turkey, senior US officials told journalists on 28 July that the PYD had clearly stated that it supports the territorial integrity of a unified Syria.

According to an AFP toll, at least 17 members of the security forces have now been killed in attacks blamed on the PKK since the current crisis erupted last week.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, called for the peace process to resume, but Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rejected the call, saying that would not happen until the party distances itself from the rebels and the PKK withdraws its armed fighters from Turkey’s territory.

On Saturday, one of Iraq’s main Kurdish political parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, also condemned Wednesday’s pipeline attack in Turkey’s southeastern Sirnak province.

Turkey launched airstrikes on Kurdish rebel camps in northern Iraq last week, its first such strikes since a peace process with the PKK was launched in 2012.

The Foreign Ministry said the air strikes are being conducted with high precision and carried out only after intelligence gathered determines that there are no civilians in the area.

Anatolia published a report late Saturday claiming that the group’s leadership has split into three to protect itself from further air strikes.

He went on to say that Ankara is targeting one of the terrorist groups in its anti-terror campaign, but is still supporting other terrorist groups such as al-Nusra front.