Eight soldiers were killed in a bomb blast on Wednesday afternoon in the south-eastern province of Siirt, Turkey.

The troops were traveling in an armored vehicle when a remote-controlled bomb exploded. Seven soldiers were also injured in the violent incident. No one has claimed the responsibility of the attack, but the army blamed the separatist organization, Kurdish PKK militants.

In another incident on Wednesday, gunfire and a blast were heard outside the iconic Dolmabache palace in Istanbul. It is one of the main tourist attractions in the country and it also houses an office of the Turkish prime minister. The palace is situated in the Besiktas district on the European side of Istanbul. One police officer was slightly injured in the attack.

The Istanbul governor’s office said that the authorities have apprehended two individuals nearby the attack site and seized two hand-grenades, an automatic rifle, a hand gun and a large amount of ammunition. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in the capital Ankara at the time of the attack.

The latest incidents happened amid escalating violence between Turkey’s security forces and Kurdish rebels. At least 85 members of security forces have been killed since July in the renewed violence between the state and the PKK organization.

Turkey has been experiencing uprising insurgency on multiple fronts. The country launched airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Syria after the group attacked Turkish troops at the Syria-Turkey border, killing a soldier. In July, a suicide bomber killed 33 university students in southeastern region of Suruc.

Last month, more than 1,000 suspected people were arrested linked to ISIS, Kurdish rebels and leftist fighters. Turkey has long endured the buildup of ISIS on its porous border with Syria, but until last month was reluctant to allow the U.S. to use its bases to strike the radical militant group. Ankara has been long criticized for its coward policies against the rebels in the region. IMAGE/dailysabah