One civilian, one police officer killed in attacks in eastern Turkey

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

DHA Photo

One civilian and one police officer were killed and three were wounded in separate attacks in Turkey’s eastern provinces on Sept. 4, official security sources have said. 

In the first incident, at least two militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were also killed in Turkey’s eastern Tunceli province after an exchange of fire with security forces on Sept. 4, local security sources said.     




A group of PKK militants opened fire on the Şehit Nahit Bulut Police Department on Cumhuriyet Avenue. 

Police responded with gunfire and in the resulting exchange two militants were killed at the entrance of the police station. Security teams have been dispatched to the area to contain the ongoing clash, sources added. 

Separately, a specialist sergeant was critically wounded in a roadside bomb attack on a security patrol in eastern Van province at noon on Sept. 4, security sources said.

The patrolling Turkish soldiers were from the Yeşilbulak Military Guard Post of the 4th Border Battalion, the sources added.

The wounded soldier was transferred in a military helicopter to the Dursun Odabaşı Medical Center in the Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Faculty of Medicine. Security forces launched an operation in the area to detain the attackers. 

On Sept. 4, one civilian was killed and two others, including a child, were wounded when PKK militants opened fire on a pickup truck in southeastern Şırnak province, security sources added. 

The 27-year-old driver of the vehicle succumbed to his wounds while being transferred to Şırnak State Hospital. A six-year-old child and a specialist sergeant were wounded in the attack, the sources added.

Government figures show 72 security forces and 20 civilians have been killed since July 7 - when a police officer was shot dead in a PKK attack - while 965 PKK militants have been killed since July 22 in land and air operations in eastern Turkey and northern Iraq.