US consulate targeted in slew of deadly attacks in Turkey amid tensions between government and Kurdish militants
The authorities blamed the violence on Kurdish and Marxist radicals, as Ankara presses a two-pronged “anti-terror” offensive against Islamic State (IS) jihadists and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants following a wave of attacks in the country.
Turkey was yesterday hit by a slew of deadly attacks, with six members of the security forces killed and the US consulate in Istanbul hit by a gun attack.
The authorities blamed the violence on Kurdish and Marxist radicals, as Ankara presses a two-pronged “anti-terror” offensive against Islamic State (IS) jihadists and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants following a wave of attacks in the country.
The attacks raised new concerns about security throughout Turkey in an escalating cycle of violence that has left a 2013 ceasefire agreed by the PKK in tatters.
Four Turkish police officers were killed in a roadside bomb attack, blamed on Kurdish militants, in the southeastern Silopi district of Sirnak province bordering Iraq and Syria, the official Anatolia news agency said.
A Turkish soldier was killed in a separate incident when Kurdish militants attacked a military helicopter with rocket launchers in Sirnak’s Beytussebap district, the army said.