Two Turkish soldiers killed in landmine explosion

Two soldiers of the Turkish security forces were killed and four others wounded in a landmine explosion in southeastern Turkey, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.

The report said that the landmine planted by the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) exploded in Dicle town of Diyarbakir province, leaving Lieutenant Halit Demiroz and Corporal Suat Ozcan dead and four soldiers wounded.

The blast occurred when the Turkish security forces were staging operations in fight against the PKK militants in the region, added the report.

It said that the wounded were taken to Diyarbakir Military Hospital for treatment by helicopter.

PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, NATO and the European Union, launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking decades of strife that has claimed more than 30,000 lives.

The intensity of the fighting eased after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured and imprisoned in 1999, but flared up again in recent years.

Source: Xinhua