ANKARA

 Six soldiers were martyred and one is critically injured in a bomb attack perpetrated by PKK terrorists on an armored military vehicle in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir on Thursday, the Turkish General Staff has said in a statement.

PKK terrorists detonated a bomb planted on a highway as a military vehicle was passing.

The wounded soldier was transported to Diyarbakir Military Hospital in a helicopter.

An operation has been launched to apprehend the terrorists.

Parts of southeastern Turkey have been the focus of counter-terror operations and military curfews since December 2015. 

The PKK -- considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in late July 2015.

Since then, more than 270 members of the security forces have been martyred and thousands of PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.