Roundup: Terror continues to strike more targets in Turkey

Turkey has faced another deadly attack on Thursday by a Kurdish militant group in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, where at least seven police officers were killed.

A vehicle bomb was detonated by the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) on a road near the bus station in Diyarbakir's Baglar district as an armored police bus was passing.

At least 13 more police officers and 14 civilians were injured in the blast.

In a series of assaults on the same day, the PKK staged an attack on a military post in eastern province Van, killing one soldier.

In the southeastern province of Mardin, another solider was killed and seven people were wounded when a bomb was detonated by the PKK.

Speaking at a think tank in Washington DC, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sounded defiant as condemning the attacks.

"These attacks will not interrupt our determination to fight against terror," the Turkish president vowed.

Thursday's attacks came on the eve of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's scheduled trip to predominantly Kurdish city Diyarbakir on Friday.

In a televised speech on Thursday, Davutoglu said, "terror wants us to be pessimistic, but we will be more optimistic in defiance of terror."

Three Turkish ministers were already in Diyarbakir on Thursday, announcing some portion of the government's anticipated package of measures to develop the region and restore the damaged neighborhoods.

Diyarbakir's Sur district had seen heavy clashes between the PKK and members of the security forces, forcing the residents to flee the area and destroying homes and commercial buildings.

"We are trying to patch the wounds of our people right after the (security) operations ended," Deputy Prime Minister Cevdet Yilmaz told reporters.

He added that the government has already spent 14 million Turkish liras (around 5 million U.S. dollars) on social projects covering only Sur district.

The Turkish prime minister is expected to provide full details of the government package during his visit to the city.

Turkey has witnessed the worst violence in decade when the PKK resumed its violence last summer following the breakup of the peace process launched by the government in 2012.

Turkish government officials have said more than 300 members of the security forces have been killed in clashes in the region so far. The causality on the part of the PKK was 10 times higher than that, according to President Erdogan last week.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in clashes with the PKK since 1984, when the PKK started its first offensive. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and Turkey.

Turkey is also facing an increased terror threat from Islamic State (IS) militants who have staged several deadly suicide bombing attacks in Turkish cities in the past year.

In some cases, the IS deliberately targeted foreigners, killing nationals of Germany, Israel and Iran in two suicide bombing attacks in Turkey's touristic city Istanbul this year.

Alarmed by threats, the U.S. government has ordered on Tuesday military family members to evacuate Turkey. Most of the U.S. military members are stationed in Incirlik Air Base in southeastern province Adana near Syrian border as well as the other two facilities in the west.

The Israel government has also urged its citizens in Turkey to leave the country as soon as possible, citing credible intelligence on terror threats.

Davut Erdogan, a terror expert at Ankara-based Research Center for Security Strategies, believed the alerts by the U.S. and Israel may suggest the existence of intelligence on possible multiple attacks by either the PKK or IS militants.

Stressing that terror aims to instill fear in people, expert Erdogan said, "the government must shore up confidence against the fear." Endit