10 soldiers killed in PKK attacks in Turkey’s southeast

MARDİN / ŞIRNAK

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At least 10 Turkish soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded on Sept. 26 in two separate attacks by the militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the country’s southeast.

Six soldiers were killed in an atack on a checkpoint in Şırnak, while four others were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Mardin’s Derik district.

PKK militants remotely detonated an explosive placed on the Kızıltepe-Derik motorway during the passing of a civilian-plated minibus carrying soldiers at around 9:20 a.m. near Tepedağ village. 

Four soldiers were killed and another six were wounded in the attack, according to initial reports.

The wounded soldiers were transferred to hospitals in Derik and Kızıltepe.

Hous later, six soldiers were killed in the Uludere district of the southeastern province of Şırnak during a clash with PKK militants, Doğan News Agency has reported.

A number of ambulances were dispatched to the scene for the wounded soldiers at the checkpoint near a prison, Doğan said. One PKK militant was also killed in clashes. 

Separately, a bomb planted by PKK militants hit a freight train in the eastern province of Van on Sept. 25, injuring two personnel and damaging four wagons, the regional governor’s office said.

“The train’s locomotive was damaged and burnt, while four wagons derailed,” a statement by the Van Governor’s Office said.

Earlier, the local railway station directorate in the province’s Saray district told Anadolu Agency that PKK militants detonated the bomb when the TCDD-53032 train passed by after it came from the Kapikoy border gate located along the Turkish- Iranian border, 10 kilometers away from Saray.

Meanwhile, a Turkish armed drone “neutralized” at least three PKK militants in an airstrike in southeastern Turkey’s Hakkari.