Two soldiers killed, 24 injured in Kurdish attack on Turkey

Two security force members were killed and 24 were wounded when a tractor laden with two tonnes of explosives exploded in Turkey’s eastern province of Agri, local government officials said.

One soldier was also killed in Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin when a military vehicle detonated a mine, local media reported. Eight soldiers were also wounded.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) carried out the attack. Armed attacks by PKK militants in southeastern Turkey have increased since mid-July, much more so since Turkey began a campaign of air strikes on PKK camps in northern Iraq on July 24.

Turkish officials have said the strikes against the PKK are a response to increased violence.

In what prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu has called a “synchronized fight against terror”, Ankara has granted access of its bases to the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State, however so far the majority of Turkey's air bombardment has been on PKK targets.

Sunday's attacks have brought the number of security forces killed in attacks blamed on the PKK to at least sixteen, since July 20.

Western allies, including NATO and the United States, have supported Turkey's actions but several have also urged it not to use excessive force or to let years of peace efforts with Kurdish militants collapse.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan initiated negotiations in 2012 to try to end the PKK insurgency, largely fought in the predominantly-Kurdish southeast and which has killed 40,000 people since 1984. The ceasefire, though fragile, had been holding since March 2013.

The leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition has accused Erdogan of launching air strikes in Syria and Iraq to prevent Kurdish territorial and political gains, and of using the war against Islamic State as a cover.