Turkey says two workers killed by PKK explosives on rural road

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Two electrical workers were killed when explosives struck their vehicle in Turkey’s eastern province of Bingol on Saturday, the interior ministry said, blaming the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group.

The employees of a power distribution company were heading to a village at around 11 a.m. (0800 GMT) when the remote-controlled explosives detonated, the ministry said.

The PKK is deemed a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union, and Turkey’s military often targets members in the country’s southeast.

The PKK launched a separatist insurgency in the region in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Separately, Turkey said its military and intelligence organization “neutralised” three PKK members on Saturday in northern Iraq, where the group has mountain strongholds. The government commonly uses the term to mean killed.

(Reporting by Azra Ceylan; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Catherine Evans)