Two Turkish soldiers and a policeman have been killed in two separate clashes with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in eastern Turkey, security sources said on Thursday.

Early on Thursday, PKK fighters opened fire in a mountainous area of Agri province’s Dogubayazit district, near the Iranian border, killing two soldiers and wounding four others, the sources said.

A day earlier, a special forces police officer was killed in a clash in a mountainous area of Sirnak province’s Beytussebap district, near the Iraqi border, they said.

A ceasefire between the Turkish state and the militants broke down in July 2015 and the southeast subsequently saw some of the worst violence since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984.

More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been killed in the conflict. The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Source: in.reuters.com