Mine blast kills one sergeant in northeast Turkey

KARS - Anadolu Agency

Family members mourn the death of Ali Gökçe.

A Turkish sergeant has been killed in mine blast in northeast province of Kars, Turkey, security sources said Aug. 1.

"A group of members of the terrorist organization” sat vehicles on fire on Kağızman-Iğdır-Erzurum highway near Kağızman district, security sources said, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

A mine went off as soldiers searched the area and resulted in the death of the sergeant, Ali Gökçe of the southern province of Osmaniye, the sources said.

Turkey's military and police have been hit by a number of attacks over the past week, which resulted in the deaths of around 20 police officers and soldiers. The violence was touched off by a suicide bombing in Suruç that killed 32 people on July 20.

Security forces have detained more than 1,300 suspected supporters of groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and PKK -- recognized as terrorist groups by Turkey, the EU and the U.S. -- as well as launching airstrikes in ISIL in Syria and the PKK in Turkey and northern Iraq in a recent wave of anti-terror operations.