MESOP LATEST : PKK STARTS NEW WAVE OF WAR ? – Three Turkish police killed after ambush in the Kurdish region
ISTANBUL, Turkey, 27-9-2014 – Three Turkish police were killed after an ambush in Turkey’s overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast [Turkish Kurdistan], amid renewed strains between the authorities and rebels fighting for self-rule, reports said Saturday.
The private Dogan news agency said that traffic police on the highway between the southeastern Kurdish cities of Diyarbakir [Amed] and Bitlis were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and then rifles late Friday.
As the clashes continued, another team of police deployed as reinforcements but their vehicle suffered an “accident” at the scene when it overturned, it added, without giving further details on the circumstances. Dogan quoted Bitlis governor Orhan Ozturk as saying that five police were taken to hospital but three died of their wounds. There was no further information on the assailants but the ambush came at a time of mounting tensions between the Turkish government and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels.