Eight Turkish soldiers were killed and one was wounded on Thursday in an attack carried out by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists in Turkey’s southeastern Batman province.
According to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency, the terrorists detonated an improvised explosive device planted on a road when an armored military vehicle was passing through the area.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to continue to fight against terrorism.
“We will continue our fight against terrorism with the same determination. The sacrifices our martyrs and veterans have made will not be in vain,” Erdoğan said during a meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara.
Turkish authorities had conducted direct talks with jailed PKK chief Abdullah Öcalan for several years until a truce in effect collapsed in the summer of 2015. Since then, there have been clashes between the PKK and Turkish security forces.
More than 40,000 people, including 5,500 security force members, have been killed in four decades of fighting between the Turkish state and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.