8 Turkish Police Officers Killed in Explosion HATAY, Turkey - Eight police officers were killed and nine were wounded when a land mine exploded early Sunday in southeastern Turkey, the semiofficial news service Anatolian Agency reported. Officials said that the officers were traveling from the town of Karliova to their base in Bingol Province, in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, when their vehicle hit the land mine. Kurdish separatist rebels are suspected of placing the explosive device, officials said. The group of riot police officers was assigned to join other units to maintain security during a court case this week. The case involves Kurdish political activists who are charged with collaborating with the Kurdish Workers" Party, known as the P.K.K. for its initials in Kurdish, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Meanwhile, in Hatay, a southern town near the border with Syria, hundreds of protesters demanded that the Turkish government end its support for the Syrian opposition seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad. The protesters also called for Turkey to close the temporary refugee camps where more than 78,000 Syrians are sheltered, and to expel Syrian opposition activists. Many Turks in the area belong to a minority sect with links to the same offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Alawites, of which Mr. Assad is a member. In Hatay, a town with Jews, Christians and Muslims, some residents have expressed concern about the possible effects of the Syrian conflict on the ethnic balance. "We do not want to see these foreign fighters in our town, we have no peace," said Neset Kocak, 49, a retired public worker, as he wiped his eyes after the police sprayed pepper gas to disperse the crowd. Who can guarantee that this fight would not spill over here? Turkey has cut diplomatic ties with Mr. Assad's government and has recognized the Syrian National Council as the legitimate opposition and the Free Syrian Army as its armed wing, which operates freely along the border with Turkey.