TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Seven Turkish soldiers were injured on Monday, when their armoured vehicle triggered a land mine explosion in Southeast Turkey, according to a military source as reported by Antara News.
Turkish military authorities have yet to disclose any information about who and when the land mine was planted, although militants from Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have been involved in several, similar attacks on Turkish military convoys in the past.
The injured soldiers are currently being treated in a hospital, but the extent of their injuries are not yet known, according to a Reuters report.
The incident occurred near Nusaybin in Mardin Province - near the Turkish-Syrian border - during a routine military patrol, according to the source.
The incident further damages the two-year long peace-negotiations between the Turkish government and PKK, three decades after militant forces launched a rebellion in Southeast Turkey, which to date, has claimed the lives of around 300,000 civilians.
Previously in October, scores of people were killed during a riot in the restive region, which was sparked by the dissatisfaction among Turkish Kurds over what they perceive as Ankara's failure in assisting the besieged Kurdish community in the town of Kobani who were battling the advancing Islamic State (IS) forces along Turkey's southern border.
It is known that PKK has been designated as a terrorist group by Ankara, as well as the United States (US), and the European Union (EU). That said, recent negotiations between the government and pro-Kurdish politicians have recently bore some encouraging results.
"We have left a critical period behind," said a Deputy for Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Sirri Sureyya Onder told the press after meeting Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan on Monday.
"This does not mean that all problems have been resolved. We have managed to agree on several issues that needs to be discussed, and the method that will be used to make progress with those issues," he continued.
ANTARA NEWS | B KUNTO WIBISONO
