Two soldiers killed in mine explosion in Turkey’s southeast

MARDİN

Two soldiers were killed after outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants detonated a bomb on a road between the southeastern provinces of Mardin and Diyarbakır on March 15. 

The explosives were detonated on a highway near Mardin’s Mazıdağı district.  

The soldiers from the Aksu Gendarmerie Headquarters were in the area to carry out mine and explosives searches before the PKK militants staged the attack at 8:40 a.m. 

Ambulances rushed to the area and closed the highway to traffic. 

A wide-scale operation was launched to apprehend the militants involved in the attack. 

The funeral of Gendarmerie Specialized Sergeant Mahmut Yıldırım will be held in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri on March 16. 

The funeral of Gendarmerie Specialized Sergeant Çavuş Erkan İmalı, 23, will be held in the southeastern province of Kahramanmaraş. 

Speaking after the attack, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said one of the most difficult parts of the struggle against terror was the vents under bridges and highways. 

“We received sad news this morning. We’ve been controlling the Mardin-Diyarbakır road for months. Our children are constantly patrolling the area and doing mine search in order to prevent explosives from being placed and to avoid harm against civilian vehicles. When they were doing searches on the vents, our two sons unfortunately were martyred, after stepping on a mine,” Soylu said March 15. 

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, who also spoke about the attack, vowed “all terrorist organizations will be brought to their knees in the quickest time possible.”

“With our determination in the struggle against terror, we will bring all terrorist organizations to their knees in the shortest period of time and we will make them unable to harm Turkish people,” Kurtulmuş said during an event in the Central Anatolian province of Malatya, as he expressed his condolences to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).

“God willing, the people will win and terror will lose in Turkey eventually,” he added. 

Meanwhile, police in the southern province of Adana carried out an operation against the PKK early on March 15 and detained some 38 people, of whom 18 were children. The security measures in the province were increased as Nevruz celebrations approach. 

Security forces, with the participation of 500 police officers, raided some 40 addresses as a part of the operation.

Tight security measures were taken on the streets where the operation was conducted. 

One unlicensed pistol, two unlicensed pump rifles and plenty of documents related to the PKK were found in the operations.