PKK claims killing of two 'ISIL-linked' Turkish police near Syria border

Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for the killing of two Turkish police officers, saying they were cooperating with the ISIL Takfiri group, which recently killed over 30 people in a bomb attack in a Turkish border town.

"A punitive action was carried out... in revenge for the massacre in Suruc," the military wing of the PKK, the People's Defence Forces (HPG), said in a statement on its website.

The assailants formed an "Apoist team of self-sacrifice," the statement said, referring to the PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, whose nickname is Apo.

The HPG statement said attackers carried out the assault at about 6:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT). The identity cards of the police officers and their service weapons were seized.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s. Ankara launched a peace process with the PKK in 2012 to put an end to the armed Kurdish campaign for autonomy. The PKK subsequently declared a ceasefire with the government in Ankara, and began pulling out from southeastern Turkey to camps in northern Iraq, where it is currently based.

Turkish security forces had earlier discovered the bodies of two police officers in the country’s southeastern province of Sanliurfa near the border with conflict-ridden Syria.

Provincial governor Izettin Kucuk said the officers were found dead at their shared home in the small border town of Ceylanpinar, situated 800 kilometers (497 miles) southeast of the capital, Ankara, on Wednesday.

He added that both corpses bore gunshot wounds to the head. Kucuk further noted that officials do not yet know if the incident is terror-related, and therefore an investigation has been launched to determine the circumstances surrounding the unnamed police officers’ deaths.

One of the slain policemen was reportedly serving in Ceylanpinar’s counter-terrorism department, while the other was serving as a riot police officer.

The development comes two days after at least 32 people lost their lives and nearly 100 others sustained injuries when a massive terrorist explosion ripped through the town of Suruc in the same Turkish province.

The blast targeted dozens of people from a pro-Kurdish group called Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF), who had gathered at the Amara Culture Center of Suruc Municipality before their journey to the Syrian northern town of Kobani, known as Ain al-Arab in Arabic, to help restructure the town.

ISIL has reportedly claimed responsibility for the deadly terrorist attack in Suruc.

Meanwhile, Turkey has blocked access to online social networking service Twitter to prevent the circulation of images related to the bombing in Suruc. Turkish authorities also blocked the Twitter users demanding anti-government rallies in protest against Ankara’s inaction to prevent the act of terror.

Suruc bomber identified

Also on Wednesday, Turkish-language daily Haberturk reported that Seyh Abdurrahman Alagoz, a 20-year-old university student registered in Turkey’s southeastern province of Adiyaman, has been identified as the bomber behind the Suruc attack.

The man’s mother, Semuire Alagoz, said her son had gone “abroad” six months ago and returned only 10 days ago, stressing that she had no idea whether he had joined ISIL.

Turkey along with some other regional countries has been widely accused of supporting the Takfiri militants in Syria as part of a broader Western plot for the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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