Roadside bomb in Turkey kills nine soldiers, injures two

August 11, 2008 At least nine Turkish soldiers were killed and two others injured after their military vehicle ran over a roadside bomb near a bridge in Kemah, Turkey. Originally, eight were reported dead, but one of the injured later died at a local hospital.

Governor Ali Gungor of the Erzincan Province has stated that after the explosion, the vehicle was attacked. Reuters states that militants with the Kurdistan Workers' Party were responsible for the attack and that military personnel were searching for more attackers.

The attack occurred in an area where Turkey has been frequently fighting militants of the PKK. Recently, the Turkish military launched airstrikes in Iraq in an attempt to disable the group. Turkey has been fighting militants of the PKK since 1984.