Soldier martyred in southeast Turkey attack

ANKARA

A Turkish soldier was martyred in a PKK terrorist attack in southeastern Diyarbakir province’s Sur district Thursday afternoon, the Turkish military said.

According to a statement on Turkish General Staff's website, the soldier got severely wounded during an ongoing anti-terror operation in the district and later succumbed to his wounds at a hospital.

Turkey's southeast has been the scene of significant military operations since December 2015 as security forces clear urban centers of the PKK -- designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU --, which renewed its armed campaign against the Turkish state in late July 2015.

Sur district has seen small-scale protests against a curfew that has been in place since December. The protest followed calls by Peoples’ Democratic Party Co-Chairman Selahattin Demirtas Monday for residents to march to Sur.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has blamed Demirtas for plotting against the country and for collaborating with terrorists to "drag Turkey into chaos".

Diyarbakir governorship announced Wednesday that security precautions had been tightened in Turkey’s southeastern provinces, with a ban on entry to Sur on grounds of preserving “peace and security”.

As well as arrests, police also seized Molotov cocktails, homemade explosive devices and rifles during protests in the province. Diyarbakir police arrested 34 people Wednesday after crowds threw stones and petrol bombs during a protest, local officials said.

More than 280 security forces personnel have been martyred and thousands of PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq since December 2015.