Operation launched in Tunceli

TUNCELİ - Doğan News Agency

Security forces launched an operation in the eastern province of Tunceli yesterday to apprehend militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), security sources said, one day after the Interior Ministry announced that 15 female PKK militants had been killed in an operation in the southeastern province of Bitlis.

The latest deaths brought the number of PKK militants killed in the past two days to 25 in operations in Bitlis, Cudi and Siirt, according to security officials. Six police officers were also killed and 10 security officials wounded.

The operation in Tunceli was said to have been realized in the Rabat Valley, Çiçekli and Dinar Deresile areas, 25-kilometers from the Tunceli city center.

The operation in Tunceli follows a similar one that started on March 21 in the southeastern province of Şırnak’s Cudi Mountain.

Seven special police operatives , one village guard and 25 PKK members were killed in that operation, while 10 members of the security forces were also injured.

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