PKK blast kills two civilians in Turkey's southeast

A bomb blast blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has claimed the lives of two Turkish civilians in the country’s restive southeast.

Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said the incident took place on Monday, when a PKK roadside bomb struck the vehicle of two workers at a construction site in the Semdinli district of Hakkari Province near the Iraqi border.

"Two civilians have been killed after the detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED). An investigation into the attack has been launched and is ongoing," a statement released by the Hakkari governor's office noted.

In a similar incident on Saturday, two Turkish soldiers were fatally injured after their military convoy was targeted by the militant group in the southeastern province of Batman. The soldiers succumbed to their wounds after being moved to a local hospital.

Turkey has banned the PKK as a terrorist organization. The militant group has been calling for an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984. The conflict has left more than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, dead.

SS