TEHRAN – TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry has called on Iranians not to travel to Turkey by land until further notice after a series of separate terrorist attacks targeted Iranian citizens in the south-eastern parts of Turkey in the past weeks.

“Given certain activities and recent insecurities in Eastern Turkey, the Foreign Ministry advises Iranian citizens who are going to head for Turkey to avoid ground routes until further notice,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, Tasnim news agency reported.

On Friday, at least one person was killed and three others wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen on an Iranian bus travelling from the Iranian checkpoint of Bazargan to the Turkish eastern city of Van.

Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency attributed the assault to Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants.

Earlier, two Turkish trucks had been set on fire by unknown people around the same area.

Earlier this week, two trains traveling between Iran and Turkey came under attack in eastern Turkey. In one of the attacks one person was injured and some wagons were damaged. The trains were hit by blasts from remotely detonated landmines.

Ankara recently detained hundreds of PKK supporters and bombarded their positions in Turkey and northern Iraq for alleged terrorist acts.

The PKK, which seeks to gain self-rule, has been engaged in militancy in southeastern Turkey for decades.

A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the militants that had stood since 2013 was declared null by the PKK following Turkish airstrikes against the group in the wake of a bomb attack in Suruc, southern Turkey.


SP/OS