Kurdish militants have carried out a car bomb attack on a military outpost in southeast Turkey then opened fire on the facility, killing two soldiers and a civilian and wounding dozens, security sources say.
The military and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels have clashed on a daily basis since a two-year-old ceasefire between them collapsed in July last year. The fighting has killed thousands of militants, security force members and civilians.
The latest car bombing on Saturday targeted the Cevizlik village outpost in Mardin province, which borders Syria, the sources said, adding military reinforcements were sent to capture the attackers.
They said those wounded in the attack included 23 soldiers, three of whom were seriously hurt, and 14 civilians as well as one member of the village guard which supports the army in its security operations.
The attack came a day after Turkish troops killed 19 PKK fighters in clashes elsewhere in the mainly Kurdish region.
The army spotted militants preparing an attack on Friday on an army base in the Semdinli district of Hakkari province, a mountainous area near the Iraqi and Iranian borders, a military statement said.
It said the armed forces killed 17 PKK guerrillas in the subsequent clash and seized guns, grenades and ammunition.
Separately, further north in the Baskale district of Van province, security force members who were destroying explosives planted beside a road were engaged in a firefight and killed two PKK militants, one of them female, the statement said.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, began its insurgency in 1984.
Reuters
