Two soldiers were gunned down by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as they left for work on Thursday in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, while two others died in clashes between Turkish security forces and PKK terrorists in Mardin’s Nusaybin and Şırnak‘s Beytüşşebap districts on Thursday. Report Zaman
As the PKK-related tension in southeastern Turkey continues to grow with every passing day, Turkey witnessed another series of clashes between the terrorist group and Turkish security forces during which four soldiers were martyred.
In Mardin’s Nusaybin district, one soldier was killed and six others were injured on Thursday morning when members of the PKK opened fire on troops guarding fellow soldiers who were checking a road in the southeastern province of Hakkari. The wounded soldiers were reportedly taken to a military hospital in Mardin by helicopter.
The Mardin Governor’s Office declared a curfew, as of 5 p.m., in the district where the first attack took place in the early hours of the morning. The wounded personnel are not in life-threatening condition, the office added.
According to several media outlets, a group of terrorists fired long-barreled weapons against troops who were guarding other soldiers checking the Mardin-Kızıltepe highway and the troops returned fire.
Two F-16 fighter jets were reportedly dispatched to the area and an operation, supported by drones, an attack helicopter and a reinforcement unit, was launched to find PKK members in the area.
According to the Cihan news agency, one terrorist was “rendered ineffective” in coordinated operations that followed the attack, and the PKK casualties were expected to increase as security operations, backed by Turkish Air Force warplanes, helicopters and drones were still ongoing.
In yet another attack in the city in the afternoon, one soldier was killed and another was wounded injured in Şırnak’s Beytüşşebap district, after PKK terrorists detonated a bomb while a military vehicle was passing late on Thursday. The injured soldier was taken to a nearby hospital and an air operation has been launched in the area to find the assailants.
In addition, two other soldiers were killed by PKK militants in Diyarbakır early on Thursday.
After a suicide bomber carried out an attack in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa on July 20, killing 33 activists and injuring more than 100 people, PKK-related tension in southeastern Turkey has grown over the past month. Two police officers were shot in the head by PKK members in retaliation for the Suruç terrorist attack on July 22. The violence and PKK-led attacks further escalated when Turkey carried out air strikes against PKK bases in neighboring Iraq.
More than 100 security personnel and hundreds of PKK members have been killed since the collapse of a cease-fire with the PKK in July. The renewed hostilities have left efforts to establish long-term peace in ruins, and have sparked some of the worst recent clashes in a three-decades-long conflict.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said this week that up to 2,000 militants from the PKK have been killed in recent military operations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq.