Five security personnel killed in separate PKK attacks

ŞIRNAK/SİİRT/VAN

AA photo

A total of five security personnel, including two soldiers and three police officers, were killed in outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacks in Turkey’s southeastern provinces of Şırnak, Siirt and Van late on May 29 and on May 30.

PKK members attacked the Kanimasi military zone in the Uludere district of Şırnak province, near the Iraqi border, with long-barreled weapons at around 9 p.m. on May 29. 

In the attack First Lieutenant Mehmet Düzenli was wounded and he later succumbed to his injuries at the Şırnak Military Hospital. A wide-scale operation was begun in the region to apprehend the fleeing PKK attackers.

Düzenli will be laid to rest in his hometown of Konya in Central Anatolia on May 30.

Meanwhile, another soldier was killed during operations against PKK militants in the Pervari district of Siirt, the Turkish General Staff announced. The soldier was heavily wounded and later succumbed to his injuries on May 29, the General Staff said in a statement, adding that two PKK militants were also killed in the operation.
One special operations police officer was killed during clashes with PKK militants in Şırnak on May 30. Special operations police officer Cuma Bilek was heavily injured in the clashes and later succumbed to his injuries at the Şırnak Military Hospital.

Two police officers were also killed on May 30 in a PKK bomb attack in the İpekyolu district of the eastern province of Van.

PKK militants detonated a hand-made explosive placed on a road in the Hacıbekir neighborhood at around 11 a.m. during the passage of an armored police vehicle. Two police officers were killed and another was wounded in the attack. 

An air-supported operation was opened in the region to apprehend the PKK militants responsible for the attack.