Turkey: curfew declared in Diyarbakir after PKK bombings, clashes

Turkey: curfew declared in Diyarbakir after PKK bombings, clashes
Kurdish militants on Sunday killed two police officers in southeast Turkey and a curfew was imposed in Diyarbakir after clashes there.
2 min read
13 September, 2015
Turkish police officer holds his AK-47 moments after an officer was shot in Diyarbakir[ILYAS AKENGIN/AFP/Getty]

Kurdish PKK fighters on Sunday killed two police officers when they bombed a checkpoint in Sirnak in southeast Turkey, and a curfew was imposed in central Diyarbakir, the region's largest city, after clashes there, security sources and officials said.  

The carbomb at a police checkpoint in Sirnak province also wounded five other officers and was followed by clashes nearby in which Turkish security forces killed five Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters. 

More than 100 police and soldiers have been killed, along with hundreds of militants, since a ceasefire collapsed in July, shattering a peace process launched in 2012. It is the worst violence Turkey has seen in two decades.  

In Diyarbakir, the historic Sur district was put under curfew and seven police officers were wounded in clashes with militants there, the governor's office said.

The offensive against the PKK was launched after Turkey was hit by one of its deadliest attacks in recent years, when 33 pro-Kurdish activists were killed in a on July 20 suicide bombing on the Syrian border blamed on Islamic State group fighters.  

The attack prompted a furious reaction from Kurdish militants, who shot dead two police in their sleep. 

Ankara on July 24 launched its first air raids against IS in Syria and then also began attacking PKK targets in northern Iraq, in a dual-fronted "war on terror".  

But, so far, the campaign against IS is very much on ice - for coordination purposes, according to US and Turkish officials - while the strikes against the PKK have been relentless.