Three killed in PKK car bomb attack in Turkey’s Diyarbakır & 25 people, including eight police in Murat Uçar

August 15, 2016 By administrator

AA photo

Two police officers and a child were killed in an Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) car bomb attack targeting a traffic police station in the Şükürlü village located between the Çınar and the Bismil districts of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Aug. 15, the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office has announced.

The governor’s office also said in a statement that 25 people, including eight police officers, were wounded in the attack targeting the Murat Uçar Regional Traffic Inspection Station at around 1 p.m.

The wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The blast also created a hole with a depth of five meters in the road, which was closed to traffic.

Meanwhile, security forces conducted an operation in the region to apprehend the militants responsible for the blast.

August/15/2016

Just last week, 12 people were killed in a series of attacks targeting Turkish police and soldiers.

ksb/se (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Kurdish Forces PKK trade deadly attacks with Turkish military in southeast of country

May 18, 2016 By administrator

0,,19255407_303,00 At least five soldiers and 10 rebels have died during intensified fighting in southeastern Turkey in the past 48 hours. The two sides traded roadside bombings and airstrikes, as both sides dig in for a prolonged fight.

Fighting in southeast Turkey is intensifying as both the Turkish army and rebel Kurdish fighters claimed deadly attacks on Wednesday.

Kurdish militants killed four Turkish soldiers and injured nine more – four of them seriously – when a roadside bomb exploded as their military convoy drove past.

Turkey-PKK conflict: Clashes in southeast

The attack by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) occurred in southeast Turkey, near the Iraqi border. The Turkish army is responding with additional ground troops backed by helicopters to the area.

Shortly after news of the PKK attack, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported that Turkish fighter jets had killed 10 Kurdish rebels. Citing a military source, the Anadolu Agency reported Wednesday afternoon that the air strike occurred on Monday.

It is unclear why news of the Turkish attack took two days to filter out.

Deadly attacks in Hakkari province

Both attacks occurred in the southeastern province of Hakkari. The PKK attack on the Turkish soldiers occurred 45 miles (70 km) from the town of Semdinli, near the Iraqi border. It’s unclear where, exactly, the Turkish attack on the Kurdish rebels occurred.

Another statement put out by the Turkish army claims that its warplanes bombed arms depots, shelters and caves used by PKK rebels in the Daglica region in Hakkari province, as well as in northern Iraq.

Earlier in the day PKK rebels killed another Turkish soldier in the town of Nusaybin, near the Syrian border – 310 miles (500 km) away. The city of 100,000 people has been under a round-the-clock curfew for more than two months as security forces battle militants.

Turkey’s army has been battling the PKK in the southeast of the country since the collapse of a 2-year-old ceasefire in July 2015. The renewed fighting has claimed thousands of lives, including 450 Turkish soldiers.

Despite the high death toll suffered by security forces, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed no let up in the attacks.

The Turkish air force has also been launching frequent attacks on PKK positions in the mountainous region of northern Iraq, where the rebels have camps near the Turkish border.

The PKK has been waging an armed struggle against Turkey for more autonomy, if not outright independence, for more than 30 years. More than 40,000 people have been killed in one of Europe’s longest running insurgencies, which began in 1984.

bik/bw (Reuters, AP, AFP)

Deadly earthquake hits Ecuador

April 16, 2016 By administrator

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake has killed at least 28 people in Ecuador, Vice-President Jorge Glas says.

A state of emergency was declared in six provinces and the National Guard has been mobilised.

The quake, centred near the coastal town of Muisne, destroyed an overpass in the city of Guayaquil about 300km (190 miles) away, local media say.

The tremor also shook buildings in the capital Quito, forcing residents to flee their homes.

“We have 16 people dead in the city of Portoviejo, 10 in Manta and two in the province of Guayas,” Mr Glas said at a news conference.

Quito resident Zoila Villena told the Associated Press news agency: “I’m in a state of panic,”

“My building moved a lot and things fell to the floor. Lots of neighbours were screaming and kids crying,” she said.

Parts of the capital were for some time without electricity.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at a depth of 19.2km (11.9 miles).

Meanwhile, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said “tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to one meter above the tide level are possible for some coasts of Ecuador”.

Neighbouring Peru issued a tsunami alert for its northern shore.

Source: bbc.com

3rd day of deadly fighting between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh

April 4, 2016 By administrator

arton124179-480x360 Baku, April 4, 2016 (AFP) – Azerbaijan said on Monday the death of three of its soldiers in fighting with Armenian forces in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the third day of clashes continue despite calls the quiet of the international community.

At least 33 soldiers of both sides and three civilians have been killed since the resumption Friday of hostilities, the deadliest since the cease-fire established between Yerevan and Baku in 1994. More than 200 soldiers and civilians were wounded.

This conflict, whose sources date back centuries but which has crystallized in Soviet times when Moscow attributed this mainly Armenian territory to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan, involved in the strategic Caucasus region for the transport of hydrocarbons near Iran, Turkey and the gateway to the Middle East.

Military escalation is also involved when Russia, which has good relations with Armenia and Turkey, traditional ally of Azerbaijan, through a serious diplomatic crisis over war base in Syria.

On the ground, three Azerbaijani soldiers were killed by “mortar and grenade launchers from the trenches” occupied by Armenian forces along the front line, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

“If the Armenian provocations continue, we will launch a magnitude operation all along the front line and we will use all our weapons,” said the spokesman of the ministry, Vagif Dargahly.

The troops of Baku “intensified their bombing Monday morning on the positions of the army of Karabakh, using 152mm mortars, rocket launchers and tanks”, for their part, said the authorities of the breakaway region, supported by Yerevan.

Armenian forces “have greatly advanced in some areas of the forehead and took new positions,” assured the spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, Artsrun Hovhannisyan.

Azerbaijan has denounced as “false” the claims, ensuring in turn control since Saturday several strategic heights in Karabakh, he now intends to “strengthen” after Sunday announced his intention to “unilaterally cease hostilities”.

Backed by Armenia, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said they were “ready to discuss a truce proposal” provided to recover the lost positions and territories in the region, recognized as belonging to Azerbaijan by the international community .

– Political Reason ‘-

“Major violations of the cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh tend not to be accidental, but rather to have a political motive,” said Thomas de Waal, an analyst with the Carnegie Foundation, which estimates that more than 20,000 the number soldiers on each side of the front line.

Russia tries to maintain an uncertain balance in its relations with the two former Soviet republics, which it sells weapons. It remains the historical ally of Armenia, where it has two military bases recently strengthened.

Turkey engaged in a standoff with Moscow since the destruction of a Russian bomber in November, for its part announced that it would support Azerbaijan “to the end” and “praying that (his) brothers Azerbaijanis triumph “.

After a war which have 30,000 dead and hundreds of thousands of refugees, mainly Azerbaijani, Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of separatist forces near Yerevan. The area is now populated mainly by Armenians.

No peace treaty has been signed and after a period of relative calm, the region has experienced in recent months a sharp escalation of tensions. Yerevan estimated end of December we had returned to the “war”.

Baku, whose only defense budget is some years more important than the whole budget of Armenia, often threatens to take by force the Nagorno-Karabakh if diplomatic negotiations fail.

“Azerbaijan understands that he can not rely purely on military force to change the status quo, especially because of the Russian presence in Armenia. However, it can maneuver diplomatically and militarily for concessions, “said the center of American thinking Stratfor.

“But despite the original intentions of Baku, this strategy may cause a broader conflict in which none of the belligerent is not prepared,” he considers.

Emil Guliyev with Mariam HARUTYUNYAN in Yerevan

Thousands of Yemeni protest in Sana’a condemn Saudi deadly military aggression

April 10, 2015 By administrator

Thousands of Yemeni protesters have poured into the streets of the capital, Sana’a, to condemn the Saudi deadly military aggression against their country as a violation of international law.

In a mass rally on Friday, the Yemeni demonstrators waved national flags and carried large banners while calling on the international community to probe crimes committed in their country by the Saudi regime and prosecute the perpetrators of the atrocities.

The protesters reiterated that the Yemeni people are capable of resolving their own problems peacefully.

They also hailed efforts by Iran, Russia, China and several other countries to stand behind the people of Yemen.

Meanwhile, sporadic protests were also held in other parts of the Arab country, including the southeastern city of Taiz.

The demonstrations were held as Saudi jet fighters targeted several parts of Sana’a during rallies in al-Matar street.

Saudi Arabia started its air campaign against Yemen on March 26 without a UN mandate in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

A spokesperson for the Yemeni army, fighting alongside Ansarullah fighters, said on Friday that at least 1,000 people, including 200 children, have been killed in Saudi airstrikes.

The military official added that 15,000 others have been also injured since the start of Saudi military campaign.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on April 7 that more than 540 people had been killed in Yemen since the military conflict began in the Arab country in mid-March.

Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesman, noted that the death toll was related to the period between March 19 and April 6.