A Turkish police officer has been killed and another officer sustained injuries in an attack allegedly carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Mardin.

The incident occurred late on Saturday when gunmen ambushed a Turkish military vehicle with their long-range rifles in Bahçelievler neighborhood of Midyat town, Turkey's official Anadolu news agency reported.

The two police officers were taken to Midyat State Hospital, where one of them later died of his wounds.

The Turkish police department says it has launched a huge search operation to find the attackers.

The development came nearly two weeks after Ankara began airstrikes on positions of the PKK in northern Iraq, prompting the Kurdish group to declare its peace negotiations with the government as “dead and meaningless.”