PKK bombing kills three soldiers in southeast Turkey

At least three Turkish police officers have lost their lives in a roadside bomb attack carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the embattled southeastern province of Mardin.

According to Turkish security officials, the fatalities occurred on Monday when PKK militants targeted a Turkish police convoy passing a highway at about 1:20 p.m. local time (1020 GMT) in the Derik district of Mardin province.

The officials said the explosives planted on the highway were detonated remotely.

Reports said an operation to arrest the PKK militants involved in the attack is underway in the region.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region over the past months. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against PKK positions in northern Iraq and Syria.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the Suruc bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.

SS