Seven villagers killed by blast in southeast Turkey

At least seven people were killed in southeast Turkey on Thursday by an improvised explosive device that exploded as a vehicle carrying local villagers was passing, a governor's office in the region said.

Ten others were wounded in the blast in the Kulp district of Diyarbakir province, and the explosives were believed to have been placed by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters, the office said in a statement.

Two people were seriously injured by Thursday evening's blast, interior minister Suleyman Soylu said, according to the official Anadolu news agency. 

Turkey recently began joint patrols with the US in adjoining areas of northern Syria to push back the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara claims is a PKK affiliate. 

A buffer zone was agreed because though Washington sees the YPG as allies, Turkey had threatened an invasion to push the Kurdish fighters away from the border.