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Diyarbakir, Turkey: Three Turkish policemen were killed and four wounded in a roadside bomb attack blamed on Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country, the security services said Monday.
The attack blamed on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) took place late on Sunday in the town of Idil in Sirnak province near the Syrian border, a local security official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
The roadside bomb exploded as a police convoy was passing.
Three officers were badly wounded and died in hospital, and four others were slightly injured, the official said.
The Turkish government has been waging a relentless offensive aimed at crippling the PKK, which has staged a string of attacks against security forces in Turkey since an over two-year-old ceasefire fell apart in late July.
The violence has destroyed hopes of fresh talks to end a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.
Vowing to flush out the PKK from Turkey's urban centres, the authorities have in recent weeks enforced curfews in three locations in the southeast to back up military operations that activists say have killed dozens of civilians.
Last week more than 1,200 academics from 90 Turkish universities signed a petition condemning the military crackdown in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.
Prosecutors on Thursday launched a vast investigation into the academics for engaging in "terrorist propaganda" and "inciting hatred and enmity" by signing the petition.
Then on Friday Turkish police detained at least 18 of them, sparking international concern at restrictions on freedom of expression in Turkey.
AFP
