Troops launched an attack on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in southeastern Turkey Thursday night, according to a military statement, reporting at least 24 PKK fighters were killed in the incident, which came after a car bombing.
The car bombing hit a Turkish military outpost near Diyarbakir, the main Kurdish city in the southeast. Turkish officials said three troops were killed and 24 wounded in that incident. The PKK confirmed launching the bombing, and claimed 28 soldiers were slain.
Turkey has some districts of Diyarbakir Province under a full military curfew, claiming those districts are overrun by PKK forces. During the curfews, no one is allowed outside, sometimes for weeks on end, and anyone on the streets is targeted by sniper fire.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reported that over 300 soldiers have been killed since he abandoned the ceasefire with the PKK in July, and claimed “10 times more” PKK fighters were killed. Turkish government estimates of PKK deaths wildly conflict with rights groups, which report a large number of Kurdish civilians among the slain.