Kurdish blast kills at least seven soldiers

At least seven soldiers were killed in the eastern Turkish city of Tunceli yesterday when their armoured truck drove past a vehicle laden with explosives detonated by suspected Kurdish militants.

Ambulances arrived on the scene of the explosion as flames rose from two vehicles on a road through a thinly populated part of the provincial city.

Militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, have carried out a wave of attacks on military targets in recent months, stepping up their 28-year-old armed campaign.

The recent fighting has been some of the heaviest since the PKK took up arms in 1984 with the aim of carving out a Kurdish state.