Kurdish guerrillas killed nine Turkish soldiers in a landmine ambush in Turkey's eastern Erzincan province on Monday, military sources said.
Special forces troops backed by Cobra helicopters later searched the area for the guerrillas who carried out the attack, the sources told Reuters. Two soldiers were also wounded in the blast near a bridge in Kemah district, where the mine was detonated by remote control as a military vehicle passed along a country road. The sources said previously that eight soldiers were killed and four wounded. An army captain was among the dead, state-run Anatolian news agency reported.
Several F-16 helicopters took off in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir after the ambush but it was not clear where they were heading. Erzincan province rarely witnesses separatist conflict but neighbouring Tunceli is the scene of frequent clashes between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels and Turkish armed forces. |