Attack on Turkish aid workers kills 2

Turkish officials says Kurdish rebels have opened fire and killed two municipality employees who were distributing aid in a district that has been placed under quarantine due to the coronavirus outbreak. A third employee was wounded.

The attack occurred Thursday on a road near the district of Ozalp, in Van province, which borders Iran, the local governor’s office said in a statement. The group was attacked with long-barreled weapons from a vehicle while they were traveling in another vehicle after having handing out aid packages.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Presidential communications director Fahrettin Altun said the attack was the work of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a more than three-decade-old insurgency in Turkey’s southeast region.

The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The conflict has led to the loss of tens of thousands lives since it started in 1984.

The Van governor’s office said an operation has been launched to catch the assailants.