Four PKK militants killed after Turkish soldier shot on way home

Four PKK militants killed after Turkish soldier shot on way home

Hurriyet.com.tr
Four PKK militants killed after Turkish soldier shot on way home

Sgt. Burak Ulukaya died in hospital today after stepping on a landmine on May 19. DHA photo

A Turkish noncommissioned officer died in hospital after he was shot as he walked home from his military unit in the southeastern province of Muş.
 
Erdinç Aydın, 33, was walking to his home in the Gümgüm neighborhood in Muş’s Varto district when he was ambushed by an unknown number of assailants at around 7 p.m. last night. He was taken to Varto State Hospital with a single bullet in his back but could not be saved. His body was sent to his hometown of Ankara after an autopsy.
 
Muş Gov. Ali Çınar said Aydın, who was married with two children, was shot with a pistol at close range. 
 
An operation was launched in Varto’s Çaylar and İçmeler areas to apprehend Aydın’s assailants. Specialist Sgt. Cumali Borok was wounded after security forces clashed with a group of suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) this morning. The wounded soldier was taken to Muş State Hospital by helicopter as four PKK militants were killed in the continuing clashes. 
 
Soldier injured by landmine dies in hospital
 
Meanwhile, Specialist Sgt. Burak Ulukaya, 23, died in a military hospital in Ankara today due to injuries he suffered after stepping on a landmine in the southeastern province of Şırnak on May 19. 
 
Ulukaya was kept in intensive care for four days before he was officially declared brain dead today. His family in the eastern province of Malatya has begun preparing for a funeral while his parents were hospitalized after collapsing upon hearing the news of their son’s death.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Mortar attack on outpost

A military outpost in the Çukurca district of the southeastern province of Hakkari came under mortar attack by the PKK at around 11 a.m. No deaths or injuries were reported as Hakkari Deputy Gov. Önder Bozkurt said a "high intensity" operation was launched in the area after the attack.