DIYARBAKIR, Turkey – Kurdish militants armed with assault rifles attacked a hydroelectric power station near the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Sunday, killing a soldier and wounding three others, security sources said.
The attack, the latest in two months of escalating clashes which have brought a peace process to the brink of collapse, did not disrupt the operations of the plant. Military attack helicopters were searching for the militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after they fled, the sources said.
Turkey has launched more than 400 air strikes against PKK camps in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey since late July, in what it says is a response to mounting attacks on police officers and soldiers. Ankara, the United States and European Union all consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
Kurdish activists accuse Turkey of launching the military campaign in a bid to stifle Kurdish political gains in Turkey and territorial ambitions in northern Syria, where groups allied to the PKK have been battling Islamic State insurgents. Ankara denies these accusations.
Source: jpost.com