KARS, Turkey
Fighting between troops and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in northeastern Turkey has left one soldier dead, a local official said on Sunday.
Clashes in the early hours of Sunday morning near the town of Kagizman, Kars province, saw three PKK fighters killed, the provincial governor’s office said. A soldier was also wounded in the fighting.
In a statement on its website, the Turkish Armed Forces said the clash happened at 5.30 a.m. local time (0230GMT). The soldiers called on the insurgents to surrender but were fired upon. The military said the fatal army casulaty died from his wounds in hospital.
More than 40 security force personnel have been killed since the PKK - designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and U.S. - renewed its armed campaign following the July 20 Suruc bombing.
In Diyarbakir, in southern Turkey, police seized improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails in an operation on Saturday evening against the suspected members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of the PKK that is active in Turkey’s cities. A suspected YDG-H member was arrested.
In a separate incident, a police officer was injured in an explosives attack on the offices of the Justice and Development (AK) Party in the city later on Saturday.
Police sources told Anadolu Agency that two devices were thrown at the building, one of which detonated, wounding the officer.
Muhammed Akar, the party’s provincial chairman, visited the officer in hospital before he was discharged from the hospital.
