Reports: Turkey land mine blasts kill 3
Associated Press
Sat, Jul. 09, 2005
ANKARA, Turkey - A land mine believed to have been planted by Kurdish rebels killed three soldiers in southeastern Turkey, and two other land mines injured seven people in separate explosions, reports and officials said Saturday.
The soldiers were killed when a military vehicle on patrol struck a land mine near the town of Semdinli, in Hakkari province, where the borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq converge, Gov. Erdogan Gurbuz said. At least eight soldiers were injured, he said. It was not clear when the mine exploded.
On Saturday, two soldiers were injured after stepping on a land mine near the town of Cukurca, in Hakkari, while five civilians riding in a truck were injured when they also hit a mine in nearby Sirnak province, Anatolia said.
More than 37,000 people have died in the conflict between the autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels and the military since 1984.
Recently, there has been a surge in violence between the rebels and Turkey's military in the mainly Kurdish region, and at least 30 soldiers and 24 rebels have been killed since May.
In recent weeks, rebels have set off explosives almost daily on train tracks or roads used by the military in the southeastern region.
Last week, Kurdish rebels derailed two trains by detonating remote-controlled bombs in the southeastern province of Bingol, killing six security guards. A freight train was also derailed in the nearby province of Erzincan five days later, but there were no casualties.
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