One died, 12 more — including three soldiers — were injured after a bomb attack was organized by terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Mardin on Thursday.
The incident happened around 8. 15 p.m. when a bomb-laden vehicle was exploded by PKK members in front of the Ömerli district gendarmerie station in Mardin.
The civilian who lost his life in the attack revealed to be 39-year-old truck driver Halil İbrahim Sevimli.
The injured were sent to Ömerli and Mardin state hospitals by emergency service workers for treatment.
The explosion damaged a number of offices and buildings nearby.
Ömerli-Midyat highway was closed to traffic after the blast, while an operation was launched in the area to catch the terrorist responsible for the bomb attack.
The PKK is designated as a “terrorist organization” by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), as well as Turkey. There have been repeated clashes between security forces and PKK members since a cease-fire between the government and the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, collapsed in July of last year.
Since the settlement process launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in 2012 with the PKK to end the country’s long-standing Kurdish problem ended in July, nearly 200,000 locals in the Southeast have been forced to leave their homes due to fighting and curfews.
The authorities have been imposing curfews in towns and districts to flush PKK militants from urban areas in Turkey’s mostly Kurdish Southeast since then.