Two soldiers killed in car bomb as US defends Turkey's 'right to defend itself' against the Kurds

Turkish officials say that two soldiers have been killed in a car bomb attack on a military convoy in south-eastern Turkey.

The attack comes one day after Turkey bombed Kurdish separatist camps in northern Iraq, where the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is based.

It also comes as Turkey wades into the war in Syria, bombing both Islamic State (Isis) positions in the country and Kurdish forces that are fighting IS in the north of the country.

An official in the town of Lice, in Turkey's Diyarbakır Province, told the BBC that two soldiers were dead and four injured in the attack, which has not been claimed by any other group as yet.

Renewed offensive

The Turkish strikes on the PKK were the first since 2012, when peace talks brought an end to a decades-long war between the Kurdish militia and the Turkish state.

They follow a suicide bombing in Suruç which killed 32 people, mostly students, which was blamed on IS.

The PKK blamed the Turkish authorities for collaborating with IS in the Suruç bombing, reacting by killing two Turkish police officers on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the US has defended Turkish strikes against the PKK saying that Turkey has the right to defend itself from the Kurdish militia, which is led by Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been in jail in Turkey since his capture in 1999.

Turkey's frenemies

Turkey has long been accused of allowing IS to operate in Syria to counter Kurdish militia, who have fought a robust defence in northern Syria against IS, liberating the town of Kobane earlier this year as well as other significant territorial gains.

The Kurdish militia – the YPG – is affiliated to the PKK and northern Syria was home to Ocalan and his group for years during the group's war with Turkey.

As the YPG has pushed IS from Kurdish areas of Syria, Turkey has become concerned about the establishment of a Kurdish state on its southern border.