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Seven villagers killed in attack by Kurdish militants: official


Thursday, 12 September, 2019 , 19:57

Diyarbakir, Turkey, Sept 12, 2019 (AFP) — Seven civilians were killed on Thursday after outlawed PKK rebels detonated an explosive on a road in the Kurdish majority southeast of Turkey, local officials and hospital sources said.

The attack, which occurred around 1500 GMT in the Kulp district in Diyarbakir province, targeted a vehicle, the local governor's office said.

Officials had put the initial toll at four but hospital officials later said three more civilians succumbed to their injuries. Ten others were wounded.

"Members of the separatist terror organisation" -- a term Ankara uses for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- were responsible for the explosion, the governor's office said.

The hunt to find the culprits had begun without delay, it added.

The PKK, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured that authorities would mobilise all means to capture the culprits of the "atrocious terror attack", in a phone call with the local governor, the presidency said.