ISTANBUL – Eight Turkish police officers were killed and nine wounded when a roadside mine exploded in the Karliova district of Bingol in southern Turkey, security officials said Sunday. The mine was detonated by suspected Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants as a police bus was passing, officials said. Suspected Kurdish separatists killed four Turkish soldiers and wounded five in an attack on a military convoy near the border with Iran and Iraq Saturday. The governor's office in the southeastern province of Hakkari said Turkish armed forces had killed 123 Kurdish militants in the past 10 days in a major offensive against PKK bases. Also Saturday suspected Kurdish militants wounded four security guards in an attack on a foreign oil exploration firm on the Mava mountain, north of Hasankeyf in Batman province, security officials said. The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, hampered economic development in one of Turkey's poorest regions. — Reuters
