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Turkish police officer killed in PKK attack

Xinhua, August 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

One Turkish police officer was killed and another wounded late Saturday in an attack by members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in southern Turkey, private Dogan news agency reported Sunday.

PKK members opened fire from a car on Turkish police officers on duty at Republic Square in Midyat town of Mardin province, leaving two injured, one of whom died in hospital, said the report.

Meanwhile, a group of gunmen attacked the Istanbul Building of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Beyoglu District of Istanbul province late Saturday, wounding one person on duty, according to the report.

Tension between the PKK and Turkish security forces has been mounting following a tumultuous week that began with an Islamic State (IS) suicide bomb, which killed 32 and injured 104 activists in the town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province bordering Syria.

The People's Defense Forces (HPG), affiliated with the PKK, claimed responsibility for killing two police officers in retaliation to the Suruc bombing, suggesting that the policemen were linked to the IS.

Turkish security forces have detained over 1,300 individuals with suspected links to IS, PKK and leftist groups, according to a statement by the Turkish prime minister's office, as the military unleashed several airstrikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq.

Renewed conflicts led to the suspension of the peace process launched in 2012 between the Turkish state and the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Some 40,000 have been killed since 1984, when the armed group launched its first attack. Endi