Evacuations continue in Sur in southeast Turkey amid security operations

DİYARBAKIR

CİHAN photo

A total of 43 people have been evacuated from various neighborhoods in the Sur district of southeastern Diyarbakır province in the last 24 hours amid ongoing counterterror operations against outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on March 3.

The evacuations came as security forces and the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office received information that some people had “demanded to leave their neighborhoods” where the operations were still continuing.

Following the residents’ calls, ambulances were sent to the area as security forces temporarily halted the operations and evacuated 14 people, including five children, three women and two wounded. 

A dead body was also taken during the evacuation. While the wounded were sent to hospitals, the others were taken to a police station.

Previously, 29 people including one baby, 10 children and five women were evacuated from the area upon calls received by the governor’s office. 

A security operation has been carried out by security forces in the neighborhoods under curfew of Cevatpaşa, Fatihpaşa, Dabanoğlu, Hasırlı, Cemal Yılmaz and Savaş in the Sur district since Nov. 28, 2015. As part of the operation, security forces have been aiming to capture PKK members, maintain the public order, remove barricades, fill trenches and annihilate explosives.