Fourteen wounded in PKK attack in Turkey’s east

VAN – Anadolu Agency

DHA photo

Some 14 soldiers were wounded on Oct. 6 in an attack on a military post by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the eastern province of Van, the Turkish General Staff said in a written statement on Oct. 7.

PKK militants launched an attack with long barreled guns on the Eşmepınar Gendarmerie Post in the Başkale district of Van, close to the Turkish border with Iran, also detonating a bomb-laden vehicle near the post, to which security forces responded with fire. 

The statement said 14 soldiers had been wounded in the clashes and were immediately taken to hospital. None of the injuries were reported to be serious. 

The statement also said “three terrorists” had been killed in clashes after the attack. 

The General Staff said in a separate statement on Oct. 7 that 10 PKK militants had been killed after trying to break into the Aktütün Border Battalion Command Post in the southeastern province of Hakkari’s Şemdinli district. 

The statement read that the militants had tried to infiltrate into the military post from three separate spots simultaneously but were prevented from doing so as the soldiers responded with fire. 

Meanwhile, a military operation has been ongoing since Oct. 6 in the eastern province of Kars’ Kağızman district, with multiple armored vehicles being sent to the region for support for the operation against the PKK. 

Commandoes with special ammunition were deployed with choppers at places on the escape routes of the PKK militants, state-run Anadolu Agency reported, adding that three PKK militants were killed in the first day of the operation in Kağızman and three were captured alive. 

On the same day, a total of 18 people have been detained in anti-terror raids in the eastern province of Siirt and the southern province of Mersin. 

Nine people, including Kurdish problem-oriented Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy candidate İkram Vural, were detained in Mersin on allegations of “organizing events in the name of a terror organization,” “forming the structure of the terror organization inside the city,” and “making propaganda in favor of the organization.” 

In Siirt’s Eruh district, nine other people were detained in an anti-terror operation on Oct. 7. 

HDP Eruh District Co-Chair Nimet Dayan and a number of district heads of the Democratic Union Party (DBP) were among the detained suspects.