Armed attacks by PKK militants have been rising

Two security force members were killed and 24 were wounded in a suicide bombing overnight by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, also known as PKK, in Turkey's eastern province of Agri, the local governor's office said in a statement on Sunday.

Two metric tones of explosives were detonated in a tractor loaded at a police outpost in the Dogubeyazit district of Agri province, bordering Iran, the governor's office said.

In addition, one soldier was killed and eight wounded in Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin when a military vehicle detonated a mine, local media reported.

Armed attacks by PKK militants in southeastern Turkey have increased since mid-July, much more so since Turkey began a campaign of airstrikes on PKK camps in northern Iraq on July 24.

In what Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has called a "synchronized fight against terror", Ankara has granted access to its bases to the US-led coalition battling Islamic State, however so far most of Turkey's air bombardment has been on PKK targets.

Turkish officials have said the strikes against the PKK are in response to increased violence. Sunday's attacks have brought the number of security forces killed in attacks blamed on the PKK to at least 16, since July 20.

Western allies, including the United States with NATO, have supported Turkey's actions, but several have also urged it not to use excessive force or to let years of peace efforts with Kurdish militants collapse.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan initiated negotiations in 2012 to try to end the PKK insurgency, which has killed 40,000 people since 1984.

Reuters - AP

(China Daily 08/03/2015 page12)