AGRI, Turkey
Three Turkish soldiers have been injured in a rocket attack in the eastern Agri province, the provincial governor’s office said Wednesday.
"Security forces were patrolling the Dogubayazit-Gurbulak Highway near Karaburun village when their armored vehicle was fired upon by members of the terrorist PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] at around 10.30 a.m. (0730GMT)," the Agri Governor's office said in a statement.
Three soldiers in the vehicle were injured in the rocket attack and were hospitalized, the statement said. Contradicting media reports that one of the soldiers had died, the statement clarified that none of the soldiers were in a critical condition.
Air-and-land operations were currently underway to nab the "terrorists who ran away following clashes with another group of security forces who were on patrol, and intervened and retaliated," the statement said.
In another incident, a Turkish soldier was wounded in another gun attack in the eastern province of Erzurum Wednesday, security sources said.
Nazim Altun, a non-commissioned officer serving in the Ninth Armored Brigade Command in Horasan district, came under fire from a black car after his military vehicle broke down at a crossroad.
The injured Altun was airlifted to a hospital. A wide-scale operation was launched in the area to find the assailants.
In a separate attack in the eastern Bitlis province, a roadside landmine hit two armored police cars. However, the blast caused no casualties or damage, the provincial governor’s office said, adding that some fleeing assailants were injured after security forces responded to gunfire.
Turkey’s military and police have been hit by a number of attacks over the past week, a series of events touched off by a Daesh-linked suicide bombing in eastern Sanliurfa province that killed 32 people on July 20.
Since then, Turkish security forces have detained suspects linked to Daesh, PKK, and leftist groups, detaining over 1,300 people across the country, according to a statement on Wednesday from the Prime Minister's Office.
Turkey also launched airstrikes against Daesh and the PKK in Syria and Iraq.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU and Turkey.
