Six soldiers killed in PKK attacks in Turkey's southeast

At least six Turkish soldiers have been killed in two separate terror attacks in eastern Turkey.

Two soldiers were killed and three others were injured in the eastern province of Tunceli on Oct. 18 after outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK) militants detonated a 500-kilogram explosive device as a military vehicle passed by on a road connecting Tunceli and the eastern province of Erzincan. The explosion created a hole measuring two meters deep by four meters wide. 

The attack came on the third day of an aerially-supported military operation against PKK militants, an operation centered in Tunceli?s Pülümür Valley. 

The injured soldiers were taken to the Tunceli Public Hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile in the southeastern province of Hakkari, four soldiers were killed following clashes with outlawed PKK militants in Hakkari?s Yüksekova district in a military operation, the Turkish General Staff said in two separate written statements.

Three soldiers were killed and six others, one of them severely wounded, were injured when clashes erupted during an operation in Yüksekova?s Da?l?ca village and the surrounding area, the General Staff said on Oct. 17.

The Da?l?ca death toll increased to four, as the General Staff released a second statement on Oct. 18, saying the severely wounded soldier had succumbed to his injuries and the treatment of the other five soldiers was continuing.

Seventeen PKK militants were killed in the operation, the statement added.

One of the soldiers killed was Lt. Col. ?hsan Ejdar, the commander of the battalion conducting the operations in the area. 

Ejdar was promoted to the post after the battalion?s former commander, Lt. Col. ?lker Çelikcan, along with 15 of his...