Tensions between the Kurdish community and the Turkish authorities deteriorated after Ankara launched an anti-terror operation against the Islamic State insurgent group and the PKK following two separate terrorist attacks.
The bridges were taken out on the highway linking the cities of Diyarbakir and Mus, the Milliyet newspaper reported.
The Kurds are Turkey's largest ethnic minority, comprising up to a quarter of the population. The Kurdish struggle for independence gave rise to a conflict between Turkey and various Kurdish militant groups that has been ongoing since 1984.
On July 20, at least 32 people, most of them Kurds, were killed in a suicide bombing in the Turkish border city of Suruc. ISIL was implicated in the attack. Two days later, two police officers were murdered in the southern Turkish city of Ceylanpinar. The PKK claimed responsibility for the assassinations, saying the policemen had links with ISIL.
