Turkish AK Party official wounded in PKK attack

HAKKARI, Turkey

A local official of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has been wounded and his brother was killed in a gun attack in southeastern Turkey on Thursday.

Local sources told Anadolu Agency that a group of PKK terrorists have attacked Tayfun Ayhan, the party leader of the town of Esendere in the Yuksekova district of the southeastern Hakkari province, and his elder brother Murat Ayhan in the district's city center.

Tayfun was taken to the district public hospital while seriously injured Murat Ayhan was transferred to a public hospital in Hakkari, the sources said.

Murat Ayhan succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.

Security forces launched an operation in the Yuksekova city center to apprehend the suspects.

More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.