Bomb kills 8 Turkish troops; gunfire near PM palace

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

At least eight Turkish soldiers were killed Wednesday in a bomb attack in a southeastern province, according to media reports. Separately, two men were arrested after gunfire outside an Istanbul palace.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said the soldiers were killed in a roadside attack. The Hurriyet Daily News reported that attack was mounted by the Kurdish PKK guerrilla organization in the province of Siirt.

In the Istanbul attack, Turkish police detained two people Wednesday near Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's office for allegedly firing on security guards outside Dolmabache Palace, according to Anadolu.

The agency said one police officer was slightly injured. The prime minister was in Ankara at the time of the attack.

The private Dogan news agency broadcast video footage Wednesday showing that a road leading to the palace, a popular tourist site, had been sealed off by police, the Associated Press reported.

Both incidents come amid an escalation of violence between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels. Turkey has been conducting operations against terror groups including the Islamic State. It has rounded up more than 1,000 people linked to the Islamic State, Kurdish rebels and leftist militants.