Turkey: Suicide blast by Kurdish extremists kills 2 troops and injures 24

Two troops have been killed and 24 others have been left injured following a suicide blast by suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in eastern Turkey on Sunday, 2 August.

The blast was set off by a truck laden with two tonnes of explosives in the Agri city. The explosion targeted a military instalment near the town of Dogubayazit, located near the border with Iran. The regional government said the assault took place at around 3am local time.

The attack could have been in retaliation to Ankara's stepped up attack against the Kurdish extremists in the region alongside pounding the Islamic State (IS) targets.

Some of the seriously-wounded soldiers were airlifted to Erzurum, while others were admitted at local hospitals. Following the blast, PKK militants are believed to have ambushed the place, to prevent security forces from calling for reinforcements.

Turkey has blamed the PKK for the rise in attacks on its soil in recent weeks and vowed to crack down on insurgents. Ankara has also beefed up airstrikes against PKK positions, which continued over the weekend as well.