One killed in rebel attack, Turkish police arrest suspected bombers

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AFP) — Kurdish rebels killed a government militia member in southeastern Turkey, while soldiers arrested two suspected members planning bombings, officials and media reports said on Sunday.
Gunmen from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed the militia member and wounded another late Saturday in Sirnak province when they opened fire on them while they were on patrol, the local governor’s office said in a statement. The militia is local men employed by the government to guard their own villages as part of the fight against the PKK. Paramilitary troops in the western city of Izmir, meanwhile, arrested two suspected PKK members allegedly planning bomb attacks, the Anatolia news agency reported. The troops also seized 10 kilogrammes of plastic explosives, 15 handgrenades, two AK-47 automatic rifles and two hand guns, the agency said. Turkey has stepped up operations against the PKK after a suicide bomb attack in the capital Ankara Tuesday killed six people and injured more than 100.