Turkey revises airstrike death toll down to 34 Kurds
DIYARBAKIR - Agence France-Presse
DHA photo
Turkish authorities have revised the death toll of an airstrike that killed Kurdish villagers on the Iraqi border last month from 35 to 34."The death toll is 34 according to final information," governor's office of Sirnak province, said in a written statement issued late Tuesday.
The earlier toll was put at 35 because officials had initially thought that body parts found at the scene of the bombing belonged to an extra victim.
Last month, Turkish air strikes killed Kurdish smugglers near the Iraqi border. Most of the victims were less than 20 years old.
The government said the attack had been a military blunder, as commanders had mistaken them for fighters with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The PKK took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives. It is labelled a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community.
