Two police officers wounded in attack in SE Turkey

Two Turkish police officers were wounded in an armed attack by gunmen in southeastern Turkey Thursday, local NTV news channel reported.

The unidentified assailants opened fire wounding two on duty traffic police officers - one in the head - on Sehitlik Street in the city of Diyarbakir Thursday, said the report.

Turkish police launched an operation against the assailants who fled the scene, added the report.

This attack follows the murder of two police officers in the nearby Sanliurfa province Wednesday by the main Kurdish militant group, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which claimed responsibility for the attack stating it was an act of revenge for Monday's suicide bombing in the town of Suruc, 160 km away, which took the lives of 32 mostly student activists.

The People's Defence Forces (HPG) linked to the outlawed PKK claimed responsibility for the shooting of two police officers in Sanliurfa province Wednesday, local NTV reported.

The PKK escalated its attacks on Turkish territory in the last few months. One Turkish soldier was killed and two others wounded Monday as the group opened fire at a team of gendarmerie that 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 claimed the lives of over 40,000 people.

However, the government suspended the settlement process to preserve nationalist votes during June's parliamentary election campaign.

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