Turkey’s state-run television says 12 police officers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Turkey, the Associated Press reports.

TRT television says three other policemen were injured today in the attack in the province of Igdir, near Turkey’s border with Armenia.

The attack comes amid a sharp escalation of violence between Turkey’s security forces and Kurdish rebels. Sixteen soldiers were killed in a similar attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, on Sunday.