PKK militants accused of killing villagers to protect cover
İZMİR - Doğan News Agency
DHA Photo
Members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that are thought to have staged a recent attack in İzmir that killed two soldiers allegedly murdered three villagers ahead of the raid to protect their cover.Security forces caught up with the attackers several weeks after the attack, killing one during clashes and capturing the other alive in Viranşehir district of the southeastern Şanlıurfa province. Further investigations revealed that they had allegedly murdered farmer Yusuf Katalı, driver Zekeriya Toksuz and Bahri Şirin when they noticed the militants scouting fields ahead of the attack in İzmir.
İzmir Police Chief Ali Bilkay said the bodies of the villagers were found in a field on Aug 7. The villagers were shot in their heads and abdomens.
Two soldiers were killed in the Aug. 9 attack while 10 others were injured when the PKK detonated a landmine as a military bus passed by on a road in İzmir’s Foça district.
