Three officers, 12 PKK militants, three civilians killed in southeast

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

One police officer, two soldiers, four civilians and 12 PKK militants were killed during the clashes between security forces and outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the southeastern Turkey as guns were seized in cell houses of the PKK. 

The 35-year-old officer, Ali Bulduk, died on Jan. 16 at the Diyarbakır Military Hospital after he was injured in clashes the Sur district of Diyarbakır. His body was sent to the southern province of Adana. 

Separately, Turkish soldier Uğur Şahin, 37, died in hospital on Jan. 16 from wounds sustained during clashes with PKK militants. His body was laid to rest in Kırşehir province in Central Anatolia. He had a son and two daughters. 

On Jan. 17, one soldier was killed in an attack by PKK militants in the Sur district of southeastern Diyarbakır province. Meanwhile, three people, including two children, were killed in clashes in the southeastern town of Cizre in Şırnak province last week. On Jan 14, siblings Yusuf Akalın, 12, and Büşra Akalın, 10, were killed when their house was hit during clashes in Cizre. 

Their sister Dilan Akalın, 8, was injured and is currently in hospital. On Jan. 15, İbrahim Kaya died due to an explosion in the Şah neighborhood in Cizre. Three others were injured in the same blast. The Turkish General Staff said in a statement on Jan. 17 that 12 PKK militants were killed during operations in Jan. 16.
Turkish security forces seized armaments from PKK cells in the southeastern province of Siirt on Jan. 15, according to the city’s governor, Mustafa Tutulmaz.

The armaments included four rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), 35 anti-tank rocket heads, 13 anti-personnel rocket heads, five hand grenades, 21 Ak-47s, 51 Ak-47 magazines and 4,568 AK-47 cartridges. Guns were also seized in Sur district.

Meanwhile, the PKK claimed responsibility on Jan. 16 for a car bombing in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Çınar district and apologized for having killed civilians, including three children, in the Jan. 13 attack.

“It is clear that civilians should never be our target, in accordance with the general line and political objectives of our movement. The target of this action was the security forces,” the PKK said in a statement reported by the Fırat News Agency, affiliated with the PKK.