At least three Turkish policemen have lost their lives and another has sustained injuries in a bomb explosion in Turkey’s beleaguered southeastern province of Sirnak.
Turkish security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had planted a bomb in the Sehit Harun Boy neighborhood of Silopi district, which lies close to the borders of Iraq and Syria, and set it off as the policemen’s patrol car passed by on Tuesday evening.
The sources added that four policemen were injured in the blast and were transported to a nearby hospital, where three officers later succumbed to their injuries.
Police launched an operation in the aftermath of the attack, and an exchange of gunfire could be heard in the area for several hours.
On November 4, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu ordered the continuation of military operations against PKK “without interruption” despite winter conditions.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said on the same day that, “The operations against PKK in Turkey and abroad are being taken in a determined way. There will be no break, and we will go on.”
