ANKARA (Sputnik) – Three Turkish servicemen were killed in clashes with members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Turkey's General Staff said on Wednesday.
"Six of our servicemen were wounded, three of them died in hospital, in an attack by members of the separatist terrorist organization in the district of Sur, Diyarbakir," the General Staff said in a statement.
Some 700 PKK separatists have been killed since mid-December, according to the General Staff. A curfew is in effect across southeastern regions, including Diyarbakir and the surrounding provinces, amid continuing clashes.
The General Staff said nine militants were killed in Sur and 11 more in Cizre on the Syrian border.
Tensions mounted after 33 Kurdish activists were killed in the town of Suruc last July. PKK fighters later claimed to have killed two Turkish police officers, leading Ankara to step up its campaign against the group.
