ANKARA
A roadside bomb in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday has left eight Turkish soldiers martyred, the military said.
The soldiers fell martyr when their armored vehicle was hit by an improvised roadside bomb on the Siirt-Pervari highway in Siirt province.
In a statement on its website, the Turkish General Staff said the bomb was detonated by remote control at around 2.10 p.m. local time (11.10GMT).
The military attributed the attack to "members of a separatist terrorist organization" - the term generally reserved by the Armed Forces for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terror organization in Turkey, the U.S. and EU.
Four more soldiers also died in another attack Wednesday after gunfight with outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir province, security forces have said, raising the two-day death toll in clashes to four.
The Turkish Armed Forces said Tuesday evening that the fighting began when the provincial and district gendarmerie command launched Monday evening an operation after suspected PKK members had set up roadblocks on the highway between Diyarbakir and Bingol.
Four soldiers had been taken to hospital, where one of them succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.
The armed forces confirmed on Wednesday that one more soldier has died at hospital, identifying him as gendarme lieutenant Ubeyd Turan.
Another deceased member of the armed forces was earlier identified as gendarmerie commando sergeant Latif Adiguzel. His father, Mustafa Adiguzel told Anadolu Agency that his son had been engaged two months ago.
"We were going to hold his wedding ceremony in a month. Tell those traitors [PKK militants] that I have two more sons," he said.
Adiguzel will be buried in his hometown, central Nevsehir province after a funeral ceremony in Diyarbakir on Wednesday.
Another martyr was gendarmerie commando sergeant Muhammet Tufan, who leaves behind two children. After his parents were informed of his death, Turkish flags were reportedly hung up in the neighborhood where they live in central Eskisehir province.
The group stepped up attacks against security forces last month and is held responsible for more than 40 personnel's falling martyr since the July 20 Suruc bombing in southern Turkey.
