The attack in the Dogubayazit district of the eastern Agri province is the first time Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants have been accused of staging a suicide attack in the current crisis, amid an escalating cycle of violence that appears to have no end in sight.
Ankara has launched a two-pronged "anti-terror" offensive against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria and PKK militants based in northern Iraq after a wave of attacks inside Turkey.
But so far the bombardments have focused far more on the Kurdish rebels - with Turkish official media claiming that 260 suspected PKK members have been killed - and the militants have retaliated inside Turkey.
There is also growing controversy over possible civilian casualties in the Turkish bombings, and the local Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq on Saturday urged the PKK to spare civilians.
The suspected PKK suicide bomber drove a tractor laden with two tons of explosives up to the military station in the Dogubayazit district, the official Anatolia news agency reported, quoting the local governor's office.
Two soldiers were killed and 31 were wounded, four of them seriously, the army said.
The soldiers were deployed with the local Jandarma (Gendarmerie), a branch of the army that looks after internal security in Turkey.
Such was the power of the blast that houses in a village several hundred meters away were hit by debris and several villagers slightly injured, the Dogan news agency said.
PKK militants who took part in the operation also launched ambushes on the roads to prevent medical teams reaching the scene before fleeing in the direction of Mount Ararat, it added.
In a separate incident also blamed on the PKK, one Turkish soldier was killed and seven were wounded when a mine exploded as their convoy was travelling on a road in the Midyat district of Mardin province in southeastern Turkey, the army said.
AFP
MME.GR
2/8/15
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- PKK suicide bombing kills 2 soldiers, injures dozens in Ağrı....
The terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) continued its recent wave of attacks on members of the Turkish security forces over the weekend, killing two soldiers and wounding dozens of others in a suicide attack in the eastern province of Ağrı on Sunday.
In the early hours of Sunday a PKK terrorist carried out a suicide attack using a tractor loaded with two tons of explosives, targeting a gendarmerie outpost close to the border with Iran in the Doğubeyazıt district of Ağrı, the provincial governor's office and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have announced. Two soldiers -- Medet Mat and Mansur Cengiz -- were killed along with the suicide bomber, while 31 soldiers were wounded.
Four of the injured are in serious condition and have been taken to a military hospital in Erzurum for further treatment, according to the TSK. A number of villagers were also injured due to shrapnel being scattered for hundreds of meters. Some villagers told news outlets that they thought the noise of the explosions was an earthquake.
In its statement, the TSK said it strongly condemns the “heinous” attack perpetrated by “murderers who have nothing to do with humanity,” while it offered its condolences over the deaths of the soldiers.................http://www.todayszaman.com/national_pkk-suicide-bombing-kills-2-soldiers-injures-dozens-in-agri_395302.html
2/8/15
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