Rocket attack in southeast Turkey kills 2 soldiers

Turkish officials say a rocket attack by Kurdish rebels on a military vehicle in southeast Turkey has killed two soldiers and wounded one other.

A statement from the governor’s office for Hakkari province said the attack occurred as the vehicle was leaving a hilltop base near the town of Cukurca, close to the border with Iraq.

The attack came as Turkey intensified cross-border airstrikes against suspected bases belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq, including Qandil mountain — where the group’s leadership maintains its headquarters.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said of Qandil: “Our aim is to drain the biggest of terrorist swamps.”

The PKK has waged a more than three-decade-long insurgency in southeastern Turkey. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.

— AP