At least 13 policemen dead in bombing of minibus in eastern Turkey

8 Sep, 2015 07:15 / Updated 9 years ago

At least 13 officers have been killed in a bomb attack on a police minibus in Igdir, a province in eastern Turkey, a government official told Reuters.

According to the Istanbul Gazette, at least 10 officers have been killed and three are injured.

The bus was transporting police officers to the Dilucu border post that links Turkey to Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic when it was hit near the village of Hasankoy, Dogan news agency reported.

Earlier Tuesday, reports emerged that more than 50 Turkish warplanes have launched a large operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. Anatolia news agency said that "35 to 40 terrorists" were killed in airstrikes, "according to preliminary findings."

The operation comes in response to an alleged PKK attack on an armored convoy that killed 16 Turkish soldiers in southeastern Yuksekova district Sunday.