One Turkish noncommissioned officer was killed and three soldiers injured on Monday when a mine was triggered in southeastern Turkey, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
The report said that the injured soldiers were taken to a military hospital in the town of Lice in Diyarbakir province for medical treatment.
The latest casualties came a scant day after Turkish General Staff announced in a statement that a total of 13 Turkish soldiers were killed during an attack on military units in Sirnak province in southeastern Turkey staged by the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
Turkish President Abdullah Gul offered his condolences to Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit on the phone over the death of 13 soldiers.
He said the attack, which reveals the brutality of terrorism and its desire of inhumane violence, one more time showed its ugly face.
He vowed to fight against the separatists, saying "Those who create, feed and support terrorism should know that no force can stand against determination of Republic of Turkey for protecting its inseparable integrity."
Turkish Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also conveyed their condolences to Gen. Buyukanit over the loss of the military.
In a message to Gen. Buyukanit, Erdogan said the state and people will continue to support the security forces which pursue a big fight against terrorism.
The PKK has increased attacks on government troops in southeastern Turkey, which led to rising Turkish demands for an incursion into northern Iraq to crush the rebels based there.
The group, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking decades of strife that has claimed more than 30, 000 lives.
Source: Xinhua
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