A Turkish soldier was killed in the southeast of Turkey this week in clashes with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters, the Turkish authorities has announced.
Mehmet Gündüz, an officer with the interior ministry, was injured in Nusaybin in the Kurdish-majority province of Mardin in Turkey, and later died in hospital, the governor of Tokay province announced on Friday.
The interior and defence ministries confirmed the death of the soldier, but provided no further details.
Various Turkish media outlets and politicians have said the soldier was killed during clashes with the PKK, despite a unilateral ceasefire announcement by the Kurdish organisation following 6 February earthquakes that hit southern Turkey.
The Kurdish People’s Defence Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the PKK, announced on Sunday that the Turkish army carried out 41 attacks against Kurdish groups in the last three days of April in areas near the Turkish-Syrian border.