9 soldiers killed in PKK car bomb in southeast Turkey

Kurdish militants detonated a car bomb outside a military checkpoint in southeast Turkey, killing nine soldiers and wounding eleven others, Turkey’s state-run news agency says.

Turkey launches a military operation in response to the attack.

The Anadolu Agency, citing a statement by the Turkish Armed Forces, says the attack occurred at 9:45 a.m. outside a Gendarmerie checkpoint on the Semdinli-Yuksekova highway and was the work of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

The explosion produced a crater 15 meters (50 feet) wide and 7 meters (23 feet) deep. An infantry station located behind the checkpoint also suffered heavy damage.

Turkish authorities have imposed a temporary blackout on coverage of the attack, citing public order and national security reasons.

— AP