PKK claims killing two police officers in southeastern Turkey

The military wing of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for the shooting of two police officers in southeastern Sanliurfa province of Turkey on Wednesday, local NTV news broadcaster reported.

Two police officers were found dead with gunshot wounds on the head in their shared home in Ceylanpinar town of Sanliurfa in southeastern Turkey bordering neighboring Syria.

"A punitive action was carried out ... in revenge for the massacre in Suruç," the People's Defence Forces (HPG) linking to the PKK said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

Earlier, Sanliurfa Governor Izzettin Kucuk said the police officers, who were working as riot police, were found dead, adding that they were not aware of any terrorist involvement in the incident.

The PKK accelerated its attacks in Turkish territory in the last few months. One Turkish soldier was killed and two others wounded on Monday as the group opened fire at a team of gendarmerie which had increased ground search activities around a dam construction site in southeastern Adiyaman province.

The Turkish government launched an initiative in early 2013 popularly known as the "solution process" to end the decades-old conflict with the outlawed PKK, which has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people.

But the government has suspended the settlement process in a bid not to lose nationalist votes during election campaign for the parliamentary elections earlier this year.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States as well as the European Union. Endit