Police seize rocket launcher in anti-PKK operation in Turkey’s southeast

MARDİN

Police have seized a rocket launcher for the first time in an operation targeting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Nusaybin district of the southeastern province of Mardin. 

The METİS M1 surface-to-surface and surface-to-air rocket launcher was confiscated along with other ammunition in the same raid. 

According to a statement from the Mardin Governor’s Office, the operation was launched on Feb. 6 and 7 in rural parts of the Çalıköy and Kuyular neighborhoods, carried out by gendarmerie and police forces aiming to “neutralize” the PKK militants and find the group’s shelters and explosives. 

Authorities use the word “neutralized” to refer to militants who are killed, wounded or captured.    
   
In addition to the rocket launcher, two earphones to be used in firing, four anti-tank rocket ammunitions, anti-personnel ammunitions, clothing and documents related to the PKK were confiscated.  

 Moreover, the authorities found some 500 kilograms of explosives hidden by PKK militants on the road to the Çalıköy neighborhood. According to the statement, the explosives were destroyed in a controlled explosion, causing a hole five meters wide and 1.5 meters deep. 

The statement also vowed that anti-terror operations would continue “with determination.” 

Elsewhere, nine people were apprehended by police in the Menemen district of the western province of İzmir in an anti-PKK operation. Three weapons were confiscated in the operation, as well as a large number of bullets and documents related to the PKK.