Three Turkish soldiers injured in PKK attack in southeastern Turkey
HAKKARİ – Anadolu Agency
Three Turkish soldiers were lightly injured in an outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attack in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Sept. 10.PKK militants attacked military base areas in Hakkari’s Şemdili province with mortars from the Iraqi border, according to the Hakkari Governorate Office.
Their escape route was covered with fire following the attack, the statement said.
Meanwhile, four PKK militants were “neutralized” in air operation in the Zap region of northern Iraq. The authorities use the word “neutralized” to refer to militants who have been either killed, wounded or captured.
Four militants who were reportedly preparing to attack military base areas were neutralized in the air operation.
Moreover, numbers of ammunition and weapons, considered to belong to PKK militants were seized in an operation in the southeastern province of Mardin.
A total of 11 long-barreled weapons, 15 grenades, 38 chargers, eight assault vests and 100,000 cartridges were seized in Mardin’s Nusaybin district.
Turkish security forces “neutralized” 57 PKK militants nationwide last week, the Interior Ministry said on Sept. 11.
According to a ministry statement, security forces carried out 1,285 counter-terrorism operations from Sept. 4-10. Out of 57 militants, 39 were killed, three were caught alive and 15 surrendered to security forces, the statement added.
During the operations, there were 601 detentions, including 117 suspects for aiding and abetting the PKK terrorist organization, 27 linked to the Islamic State Iraq and the Levant (DAESH), 451 linked to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) and six linked to leftist groups.
Eleven shelters and depots used by PKK militants and nine improvised explosives were destroyed in controlled detonations in the southeastern Muş, Bingöl, Tunceli, Hakkari and Şırnak provinces.
Security forces seized 12.5 kilograms (27 pounds) of bomb-making materials, 35 hand grenades, 4,527 pieces of various ammunition and 42 weapons—including 38 long—and heavy-barreled weapons.
There were a total of 1,374 anti-contraband operations and 1,883 suspects were captured in 76 provinces nationwide, the statement added.
Meanwhile, PKK militants killed a businessman in the southeastern province of Siirt late on Sept. 9, according to security sources.
The sources who spoke on conditions of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media said 62-year-old businessman, Mehmet Salih Arslan, was shot by PKK militants in front of his home in the village of Kemerli in the Siirt province’s Eruh district.
Arslan was critically wounded as a result of the attack and was taken to Siirt State Hospital, however, succumbed to his wounds in the hospital, the sources said.
The sources added that Arslan was threatened by PKK terrorists and that they kidnapped his son.
