DIYARBAKIR, Turkey – Eight Turkish soldiers were killed in a suspected bomb explosion in Turkey's southeastern Hakkari province on Wednesday, security sources told Reuters.
The cause of the blast was thought to be a roadside remote-controlled explosive device detonated by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, the sources said.
Turkish military reinforcements were dispatched by ground and air to the Cukurca district which borders Iraq, the sources said, adding that others had also been wounded in the blast.
Gunfire could be heard in the surrounding mountains following the explosion.
The latest deaths come only days after three Turkish soldiers were killed in an ambush by PKK guerrillas as they returned from a patrol in the southeastern province of Sirnak.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in 1984.
