There has been apparent retaliation by Kurdish militants in Turkey after government airstrikes on Kurdish camps in northern Iraq.

Two Turkish soldiers have been killed in a roadside bombing in the southeast of the country, and other suspected shooting incidents are being reported.

Ankara has launched a crackdown against the PKK-Kurdistan Workers Party, as well as airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria.

Turkey’s turnaround in its reluctance to join the US-led alliance against ISIL came after it carried out a deadly attack on a mainly Kurdish town.

But the airstrikes against the PKK put at risk a fragile peace process that began with the group in 2012.

A senior US diplomat has insisted there is “no connection” between the air strikes against the PKK and what he calls “recent understandings to intensify US-Turkey cooperation against ISIL”.

The Turkish government denies PKK claims that it has been covertly helping ISIL to weaken Kurdish forces in Syria.

Critics also say the Turkish President is using the action against ISIL as a cover to clamp down on the PKK.

Turkey maintains its objective with the targeting of ISIL and PKK is to create a “safe zone” across the border in northern Syria.

By Seamus Kearney | EURO NEWS