5 killed in Kurdish militant attacks in Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - A street cleaner in southeastern Turkey was killed on Wednesday, November 11, by flying shrapnel and a police officer was wounded after his armored vehicle drove over an explosive device thought to have been laid by Kurdish militants, security sources said, according to Reuters.

The blast in the town of Dargecit in Mardin province came after three policemen were killed late on Tuesday in the town of Silopi, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, when Kurdish insurgents opened fire on their car, officials said.

In the town of Silvan, rocked by days of clashes, a soldier was killed, and one child was wounded, they said.

Security sources said separate, large-scale operations against the PKK were launched after the attack late on Tuesday.

Areas of the southeast have been intermittently subject to round-the-clock curfews due to the conflict. Officials said six people had died in clashes in Silvan, located in Diyarbakir province, since a curfew was imposed there eight days ago. Erdogan had overseen talks with the PKK's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in late 2012 but that effort to end the long-running war was frozen in April ahead of another poll.

The PKK, which wants autonomy for Turkey's large Kurdish minority, is listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the United States and European Union. It took up arms against the state in 1984, and more than 40,000 people, mostly Kurdish militants, have died in the conflict.