UPDATE 3 – 3 officers martyred in terrorist attack in northern Turkey

By Hakan Burak Altunoz, Meltem Yilmaz and Tuncay Bekar

UPDATES DEATH TOLL

TRABZON, Turkey (AA) – Three police officers have been martyred on Tuesday in a terrorist attack in northern Turkey.

Four other officers and a civilian were also injured, according to local authorities.

Trabzon Governor Yucel Yavuz said in a statement that a terrorist group had attacked police officers manning a checkpoint in the Macka district of Trabzon province at 8.30 a.m. (0530GMT).

A police source speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media said the group attacked the officers from a mountainside 50 meters away using hand grenades and rifles before escaping.

Security forces are using a drone to find the group.

Bomb disposal units carried out a controlled explosion under the police car, in which a hand grenade was found.

Routes in and out of Macka district were blocked after the attack and the Trabzon-Gumushane highway passing through the district was closed to traffic for half an hour.

Terrorist attacks are not common in northern Turkey.

In 2005, police teams in Macka, acting on a tip-off, carried out ID checks in a supermarket in the district. A clash erupted between three suspected PKK terrorists and police officers. One terrorist was killed and the two others were held separately.

The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.

Since then, nearly 600 security personnel, including troops, police officers and village guards, have been martyred and more than 5,000 PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.