PKK attack kills Turkish policeman, injures two others

At least one Turkish policeman has been killed and two others have been injured when members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) carried out an attack in the country’s crisis-hit eastern province of Tunceli.

Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said PKK militants raided a security checkpoint in the central Cumhuriyet neighborhood of the provincial capital city of Tunceli, situated some 800 kilometers (497 miles) east of the capital, Ankara, late on Wednesday, spraying police cars with bullets.

The sources added that a civilian also sustained injuries in the shooting. Special police teams have been dispatched to the area following the attack, and an operation is underway to hunt down the assailants.

Earlier in the day, at least two civilians were killed when PKK militants launched two separate attacks in Turkey’s southeastern Sirnak Province on Wednesday, according to eyewitnesses.

The developments come as the Kurdish-language Firat news agency has reported that a total of 31 soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed during a PKK attack on the Daglica district in the southeastern Turkish province of Hakkari on September 6.

The report added that as many as six Turkish soldiers were also injured in the assault.

In a separate development on Thursday, Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported that a Turkish soldier had been shot dead in the Reyhanli district of southern Hatay province near the Syrian soldiers by an unidentified attacker, who opened fire from the Syrian side of the frontier.

The report gave no further details on the incident.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned the recent deadly attacks on Turkish security forces and voiced grave concerns over the growing violence in Turkey.

"The Secretary-General is gravely concerned by the increase in violence and urges immediate de-escalation of tensions and hostilities. He continues to monitor the situation closely, including its possible impact on the region," Ban said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Turkey has been launching airstrikes against purported Daesh targets in Syria as well as PKK positions in Iraq, after a Daesh bomb attack on July 20 left 32 people dead in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc, which lies across the border from the northern Syrian town of Kobani.

A shaky ceasefire that had stood since 2013 was declared null by the PKK following the Turkish airstrikes against the group, slashing chances of reaching a deal between the two sides in the near future.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.

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