SANLIURFA, Turkey
Two police officers were found shot dead Wednesday in Sanliurfa, the southern province hit by a suicide bomber two days earlier, in an apparent attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK.
According to a written statement from Sanliurfa governor's office, the officers from Ceylanpinar District Police Department were found dead Wednesday morning at a home they shared in the Bahcelievler quarter of the district.
Ceylanpinar is located on Turkey's Syrian border that lies 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Suruc, where Monday’s bomb blast killed 32 victims.
The governor's statement said that there was no sign of forced entry at the officers’ home.
The pair worked in the anti-terror and riot police sections of the local security forces.
Sanliurfa’s provincial chief public prosecutor's office is investigating.
The attack was claimed by the PKK, which is listed by Turkey, the U.S. and EU as a terrorist organization. The militants said the attack was carried out to avenge the bomb attack in Suruc that has been blamed on Daesh.
In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said of the claim of responsibility, “If it's true, obviously, that's very, very troubling.”
Mahsun Sahin, a neighbor of the two officers, told the media that the door to the house was closed and could only be opened by a locksmith when police arrived on the scene.
"I saw the dead policemen on their beds in separate rooms. There was no mess in the house. We did not hear any gunshot. We do not understand how it happened," he said.
Ceylanpinar lies across the border from Sari Kani, a town controlled by the Syrian-Kurdish People’s Protection Units -- the military wing of the Syrian Democratic Union Party, labeled by Turkey as a terrorist organization.
