Kurdish militants detonated a car bomb on Sunday outside a military checkpoint in southeast Turkey, killing nine soldiers and wounding eleven others, Turkey’s state-run news agency said. Turkey launched a military operation in response to the attack.
The Anadolu Agency, citing a statement by the Turkish Armed Forces, said the attack occurred at 9:45 am outside a Gendarmerie checkpoint on the Semdinli-Yuksekova highway and was the work of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
The explosion produced a crater 15 meters (50 feet) wide and 7 metres deep. An infantry station located behind the checkpoint also suffered heavy damage.
Turkish authorities imposed a temporary blackout on coverage of the attack, citing public order and national security reasons.
Energy Minister Berat Albayrak condemned the attack during a speech in Istanbul, calling on all countries to stand together against terrorism.
Turkey has been rocked by a wave of bomb attacks since last summer that have killed hundreds of people and been blamed on either the PKK or the Islamic State group.
Fighting between the PKK and the state security forces resumed last year after the collapse of a fragile 2 and-a-half-year cease-fire.