Militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have attacked a dam in eastern Turkey, killing a government soldier and wounding three others, as Ankara steps up operations against the group.
The army announced the casualty figures on Sunday, adding that ground and air operations are in progress to "neutralize" the PKK attacks.
The PKK militants used rockets and long-range rifles to attack a detachment of soldiers guarding a hydro-electric dam in the Kulp district of the eastern Diyarbakir Province.
Meanwhile, the army confirmed Sunday eleven customs officials and their driver, who had been missing since Friday after vanishing in the Van region of eastern Turkey on the border with Iran, had been abducted at the Kapikoy border crossing with Iran by the "Separatist Terror Organization," its usual phrase for the PKK.
Clashes have been going on on a daily basis between the PKK and Turkish army since July, when the military started its raids against the organization’s positions in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq, areas where the PKK militants are largely operating.
According to figures published Saturday by Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency before the latest incidents, 812 PKK militants have been killed in the campaign while 56 members of the Turkish security forces have lost their lives.
It is not possible to independently verify the death toll for the PKK militants. The PKK has been fighting the Turkish government for separation since 1984.
