he attack was carried out around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the town of Nusaybin, near the Syrian border. (Photo: DHA)
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) detonated a car bomb near a police station in southeastern Turkey on Friday, killing two police officers and injuring 35 people, while on the same day two soldiers were killed by the PKK in the İdil district of Şırnak province.
The attack targeted the traffic police station and lodgings in Mardin‘s Nusaybin district, where the security forces are battling PKK terrorists. Two police officers died at the scene, while 35 people, including police officers and members of their families, were injured in the explosion.
The explosion caused extensive damage to the police lodgings and left a large crater on the road, images published by the private Doğan news agency showed.
According to media reports, two soldiers died during a clash with the PKK in İdil.
A fragile two-year-old settlement process between the Turkish government and the PKK collapsed in late July, reviving a three-decades-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. Hundreds — many of them police officers and soldiers — have died in the renewed fighting.
The attack in Nusaybin comes amid a surge of violence in Turkey.
Last month, a suicide car bombing that targeted buses carrying military personnel in Ankara killed 29 people. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a Kurdish militant group that is an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility for that attack.
On Thursday, police in İstanbul killed two female militants of the banned far-left group the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), who had hidden inside a building after attacking police with gunfire and a hand grenade.