13 PKK militants killed in Turkey’s southeast: Army

ANKARA

DHA photo

A total of 13 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants were killed on Nov. 7 during operations conducted in the country’s southeast, the Turkish General Staff has stated.

“Eleven members of the separatist terror organization [PKK], who were spotted in operations conducted in Hakkari and Şemdinli, have been neutralized,” the statement issued on the General Staff’s website said.

The statement also added that another two PKK militants were “neutralized” in Şırnak and the Silvan district of Diyarbakır province.

Meanwhile, two Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, who were illegally trying to cross into the country from Syria, have been detained in southeastern Kilis province, according to the same statement.

The clashes continued in Silvan on Nov. 8, as three neighborhoods of the district, Tekel, Mescit and Konak, entered the sixth day under a curfew. Special operations police officers continued to clash with militants from the outlawed Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the PKK’s youth wing, who had dug ditches and trenches. 

Meanwhile, a Turkish soldier who was killed on Nov. 7 in a mine attack by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the southeastern province of Şırnak was laid to rest in his hometown in the Black Sea province of Bartın on Nov. 8.

Infantry specialized Sgt. Uğur Akyer was killed in a mine attack which PKK militants detonated during the passing of soldiers scouting the Karaçalı Tepe region in Şırnak’s Uludere district.