Diyarbakir (Turkey) – Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets overnight after an attack by militants left 16 soldiers dead.
The attack which occurred in the mountainous Daglica area of Hakkari province, near the Iraqi border on Sunday, appeared to be the deadliest since the collapse of a two-year-old ceasefire in July.
The casualty figure would be the highest military death toll in a single attack for years.
Reacting to the development, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that the fight against the PKK would now ‘’become more determined’’.
Erdogan said that 2,000 PKK militants had been killed since the conflict resumed in 2012.
The clashes are just weeks before a snap election on Nov. 1 in which the ruling AK Party is hoping to regain its parliamentary majority.
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The unrest, which also comes as Turkey joins U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State insurgents in Syria, has raised questions of how security can be guaranteed for the vote.
The uncertainty has unnerved investors as the Turksh lira currency TRYTOM=D3 dropped to record lows against the dollar early on Monday.
The PKK launched its insurgency in 1984 with the aim of carving out a state in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
It has since moderated its goal to boosting Kurdish political rights (Reuters/NAN)
