Turkey violence: Five soldiers, one police dead in Nusaybin bomb

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Turkey map

Five Turkish soldiers and one special forces police officer have died in a bomb attack in the country's south-eastern Mardin province, reports say.

Turkey's Dogan news agency said Kurdish rebel group the PKK was responsible.

The victims were said to be taking part in an anti-PKK military operation in the city of Nusaybin, which has been under curfew since mid-March.

Authorities say the PKK has dug trenches and put up barricades around Nusaybin.

The attack comes just two days after seven police officers were killed and 27 others wounded in a car bomb attack on a police bus in the main south-eastern city of Diyarbakir.

Turkish authorities on Saturday said they had detained the suspected perpetrator of the Diyarbakir bomb, which was claimed by the military wing of the PKK.

According to Dogan, the suspect - named as AC - is believed to be a man seen walking away from a white parked car which would later be detonated as the police bus passed.

Nine others suspected of links to the attacks were detained on Friday prior to AC's arrest, Dogan reported.

Image source, AFP
Image caption,

Seven policemen were killed when a car bomb was detonated next to a police bus

In other violence blamed on the PKK overnight, one civilian was killed and 18 people wounded in an attack on a military sub-station in the Kiziltepe district of Mardin province, the army said.

The PKK formally took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, seeking independence for Turkey's largest minority group.

A truce was reached in March 2013 but it collapsed last summer, since when the government has moved to eradicate the group in a relentless military campaign.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this week that 355 members of the security forces had been killed in the fighting since hostilities resumed.

Kurdish groups across the region

Turkey

  • Pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) - with representation in parliament but accused by ruling party of supporting militants

  • Banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - hostile to Turkish government, has camps in northern Iraq and operates in south-eastern Turkey

  • Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) - offshoot of PKK, said it was behind last month's Ankara bombing

Syria

  • Democratic Unity Party (PYD) - linked to PKK

  • People's Protection Units (YPG) - controls area on Turkish border known as Rojava. Mainly fighting IS, but regarded by Turkey as an extension of the PKK

Iraq

  • Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) - runs Kurdish region of northern Iraq with Peshmerga as armed forces, has friendly relations with Turkey

  • KDP - dominant political party in the region