2 killed in attacks by PKK militants in eastern Turkey

At least two people were killed on Saturday in separate attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's eastern provinces, security officials told state-run Anadolu Agency.

In the first incident, one civilians was killed and an executive from the ruling AK Party was injured by a group of PKK militants in Semdinli district of the eastern Hakkari province.

The attack occurred after the two victims' car refused to stop at a roadblock set up by the PKK, and the militants then opened fire on the car with long-barrel guns.

Meanwhile, a woman, who was critically wounded during a PKK attack on a police station in the eastern Tunceli province on Friday, died at a hospital Saturday.

On Friday, clashes between Turkish security forces and PKK militants intensified in a number of southeastern towns.

A curfew was ordered in the Sirnak province's Cizre district, where unconfirmed reports said there have been several casualties in fierce clashes with the PKK militants.

The Sirnak Governorate issued a written statement on Saturday, extending the curfew to disrupt the PKK.

Tensions escalated in both eastern and southeastern Turkey amid the Turkish military's ongoing cross-border bombing campaigns against PKK hideouts in northern Iraq.

The campaigns were followed by several PKK attacks against Turkish security forces inside Turkey, in which over 60 soldiers and police officers were killed.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey.

More than 40,000 people have since been killed in conflicts involving the group.

Source: XINHUA