DIYARBAKIR, Turkey
The weakened PKK terror group is now targeting civilians to makes its presence felt.
The terrorists have lost support of the locals in rural areas following counter-terror operations by Turkish security forces, and are now attacking city centers.
Their latest target has been foreign nationals.
Last week, three Afghan nationals were killed in Dogubeyazit district of eastern Agri province, when PKK terrorists attacked a minibus. Seven others were injured in the attack.
In the last seven months, at least 22 civilians were killed in PKK attacks in eastern and southeastern provinces.
Children and teenagers have also been targeted by the terrorist organization in recent months.
On Aug. 11, 16-year-old Eren Bulbul was killed in a PKK attack in Macka district of the northeastern Trabzon province, when he was showing a terrorist hideout to security forces.
Attacks on teachers
On June 9, a PKK attack killed a 22-year-old music teacher Senay Aybuke Yalcin, as she was returning home from school in Kozluk district of the southeastern Batman province.
Another 23-year-old teacher Necmettin Yilmaz became victim to a PKK attack this June.
His vehicle was burned down by PKK terrorists in Pulumur district of eastern Tunceli province on June 16. His body was recovered on July 12 near the Pulumur Stream.
On July 2, a road worker was killed and another injured as PKK terrorists attacked a construction site on eastern Sirnak-Van Highway.
The very next day, on July 3, two road workers were killed and four others injured in Uludere district of the southeastern Sirnak province.
In another attack on the same day, two road workers injured in an attack by PKK in Semdinli district of the eastern Hakkari province.
Following the June 2015 elections in the country, the PKK stepped up attacks against politicians.
Attacks on politicians
On March 9, a local official of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party Tayfun Ayhan was injured and his brother Murat Ayhan was killed in a gun attack in southeastern Hakkari province.
On April 15, the motorcade of Ibrahim Vanli, district head of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, was attacked in Muradiye district of the eastern province of Van.
Vanli was injured and his nephew and village guard, Murat Ayhan, who was following the motorcade, was killed in the attack.
Another ruling party official Orhan Mercan, was killed in an armed attack in front of his house in southeastern Diyarbakir province on June 30.
Aydin Ahi, deputy district head of the AK Party in eastern Van province, was shot dead by PKK terrorists on July 1.
On July 7, Mehmet Kocabey, a district governor escaped a bomb attack in southeastern Siirt province.
On Aug. 31, a security guard Mehmet Paksoy, who was an AK Party candidate for mayorship in southeastern Sirnak province, was killed in a PKK attack in front of his house.
Village/neighborhood heads, locally known as mukhtar, have also been targeted by PKK terrorists.
Nurettin Altun, a village head in Yuksekova district of eastern Hakkari province was shot dead by PKK members, on August 17.
Four other mukhtars were killed in various PKK attacks in eastern Van, Sirnak and Mardin provinces in the last two years.
The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015.
Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.
Reporting by Sema Kaplan; Writing by Nilay Kar;
