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Arshak Grigoryan, younger son of Vardevan Grigoryan, a candidate at the local elections from the Prosperous Armenia party, has been shot dead in Gyumri.
After the incident, he was taken to the Gyumri medical center, where he died, Armen Khachatryan, head of the intensive care unit, told Tert.am.
The police arrived at the scene.
BEHDINAN – ANF
HPG Press Office announced the results of the Turkish military operation, clashes and guerrilla actions around Mount Tendürek.
The detailed statement by HPG recalled that Turkish army had started an expansive operation with the participation of thousands of soldiers in the area of Mount Tendürek located between Van’s Çaldıran district and Ağrı’s Doğubeyazıt district on August 30.
HPG said the operation was carried out with bombardments by howitzers, mortars and tanks on the ground and helicopters and fighters jets on the air.
HPG underlined that the operation aimed at an annihilation of guerrilla forces in the area, but it has failed and Turkish army has suffered heavy losses.
UNIT OF SELF-SACRIFICE DESTROYED THE OPERATION COMMAND
HPG statement remarked that the operation was launched on August 30 with mortar, howitzer and tank bombardments in addition to the military forces deployed in a number of locations across the rural area within the operation zone.
At 06:30 on September 1, guerrillas hit the soldiers entering the operation zone, which left 7 soldiers dead and 8 others wounded.
Guerrillas later fastened the emplacement of the military unit commanding and coordinating the operation, and a unit of self-sacrifice carried out an action against this point where high-ranking soldiers were positioned. One first lieutenant and two lieutenants were killed here. HPG guerrilla named Mahir, who was leading the unit, lost his life during a clash with soldiers in another disguised emplacement. Guerrillas later hit this emplacement as well, as a result of which 3 more soldiers were killed. The number of wounded soldiers couldn’t be clarified.
DOZENS OF SOLDIERS ENCIRCLED AND KILLED
At 10:00, guerrilla units hit a group of 40 soldiers who attempted to intervene the scene after soldiers lost the control over the area. 13 soldiers were killed and 10 others were wounded in this action, rendering the Turkish troops unable to move after all their attempts were foiled.
At 09:00 the same morning, another guerrilla unit hit two groups of soldiers trying to enter the Kır area from Deriyê Dasına, leaving 3 soldiers dead and 5 others wounded.
In another action, guerrillas encircled and hit two other military units that tried to enter the Kır area from Martyr Dıjwar territory. 14 soldiers were killed and 15 were wounded in this area where clashes lasted till the evening hours.
Guerrillas later carried out an action targeting an emplacement where 8 soldiers were positioned. The results of the strikes couldn’t be clarified though.
COBRA HELICOPTERS REPELLED
A Cobra helicopter heading towards the area for intervention was also hit by guerrillas with heavy weapons, rendered ineffective and forced to leave the area with damage. During the evening hours, guerrillas hit and damaged 2 more Cobra helicopters as they started to move towards the scene for intervention. Turkish forces bombarded the area with mortar and howitzer fire till the morning hours of September 2 after all their movement area was restricted and taken under control by guerrillas.
SOLDIERS ENCIRCLED AND HIT FROM THREE SIDES
During the morning hours of September 2, Turkish military units moving from Martyr Baxtiyar area from three sides attempted to break the guerrillas’ siege and retrieve the dead and wounded soldiers from the area. All the three groups were encircled and hit by guerrillas during the following hours, as a result of which 13 soldiers were killed and more than 10 others were wounded.
While sporadic clashes in this area continued till the evening hours, Cobra type helicopters hit the Turkish soldiers as they intervened the scene, and the number of soldiers killed by these strikes couldn’t be clarified. A guerrilla named Eylem fell fighting in this area.
At 17:00 the same day, another military unit of 45 soldiers attempted to intervene the area under the siege of guerrillas. Guerrillas hit this unit from three sides with rockets, bombs and heavy weapons. Guerrillas on the other hand hit a Cobra helicopter with heavy weapons as it intervened the fighting which lasted 45 minutes, during which 30 soldiers were killed and 10 others were heavily wounded.
One guerrilla named Sipan got seriously wounded during the clashes, and fell a martyr later.
BODIES OF OVER 20 SOLDIERS REMAINED IN CLASHES AREA FOR 4 DAYS
Bodies of 20 soldiers from the operational units remained in the clashes area for 4 days and Turkish army suffered further losses as a result of every intervention attempted by their side. Wounded soldiers managed to flee the area by taking advantage of the intense bombardments conducted by Turkish forces at the end of the 4th day. Turkish army heavily bombed the area with jets, helicopters, howitzers, mortars and tanks after the escape of soldiers, and this aggression continued till the evening hours of September 5.
HPG pointed out that Turkish army resorted to civilians in order to retrieve the bodies of soldiers from the operation zone, and soldiers left many munitions behind.
HPG stated that the actions by HPG and YJA-Star guerrillas during this operation were carried out in response to the denial of access to Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan.
Three guerrillas, named Mahir, Sipan and Eylem, fell as martyrs whilst putting up a brave fight, and their detailed ID information will be announced later.
Source: http://www.anfenglish.com/kurdistan/hpg-86-soldiers-killed-58-others-wounded-in-tendurek
Kurdish freedom fighters PKK
Nearly a dozen Turkish soldiers have been killed during separate clean-up operations against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey’s restive eastern provinces of Mardin and Van.
Military officials said three soldiers were killed after Kurdish forces attacked a military post in the Dargecit district of Mardin Province, situated about 1,100 kilometers (683 miles) east of the capital, Ankara, on Friday.
The unnamed officials added that three village guards and a civilian also sustained gunshot wounds during the assault.
Separately, eight soldiers lost their lives during fierce exchanges of gunfire with PKK members in a mountainous area of the eastern Turkish province of Van.
The Turkish General Staff also said in a statement that 33 PKK militants had been killed and 30 others injured after Turkish government forces launched a series of aerial and ground operations against the Kurds’ positions in the southeastern Turkish province of Hakkari.
Turkish military forces have been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against PKK positions in Turkey’s troubled southeastern border region and Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region over the past year.
The campaign began following the July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, which claimed more than 30 civilian lives. Turkish officials held the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group responsible for the act of terror.
PKK militants, who accuse the Ankara government of supporting Daesh, launched a string of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish security forces after the bomb attack, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations.
The Turkish military recently attacked Kurdish positions inside Syria in a ground incursion as well.
Wedad Hussein Ali, 28, a Kurdish journalist who was abducted in Dohuk on August 13, 2016 and later found dead.
© 2016 Private
Threatened by Security Forces Over His Reporting
(Dohuk) – An Iraqi Kurdish journalist who had been threatened by security services was abducted and found dead on August 13, 2016. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) should ensure a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the killing of Wedad Hussein Ali, 28, who was allegedly affiliated with the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Witnesses described his apparent kidnapping by unknown assailants, who claimed to be Kurdish security forces, following repeated interrogations by the KRG’s Asayish political police forces over the past 12 months about his writings critical of Kurdish authorities.
“The KRG should provide serious answers about how it came to be that this journalist was kidnapped and killed in broad daylight, following repeated interrogations by Asayish forces,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “He is one of dozens of journalists in KRG territory who have been killed, beaten, detained, or harassed.”
In 2015, the METRO Center to Defend the Rights of Journalists, a Kurdistan journalism rights advocacy group, documented 145 cases of attacks on journalists that year including arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and unlawful killing. In 2011, following large public protests in the region, journalists faced attacks and threats, including from the security forces. In March 2011, Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 20 journalists, who said that security forces and their proxies routinely threatened, arbitrarily arrested, beat, and harassed journalists, and confiscated and destroyed their equipment.
Tariq Hussein Ali, 40, told Human Rights Watch that his brother Wedad was an accredited journalist for the pro-PKK RojNews, and also worked in the cultural office of the Dohuk governorate, part of Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
Two of Wedad Hussein Ali’s friends told Human Rights Watch that he had spent time in PKK camps two years ago, though not as a fighter. Over the last months, Asayish officers had taken Wedad in for questioning three times about his role supporting the PKK and his work as a journalist.
One of his friends said he saw a text message with a death threat on Wedad’s phone. Wedad told him the threat came from a man who he believed worked for Parastin, intelligence forces for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the governing parties in the region.
Tariq Hussein Ali said that his brother told him in July that the Asayish had detained him and ordered him either to leave the paper or provide intelligence from inside the publication. “Otherwise we will stop you,” his brother said they threatened. Tariq Hussein Ali said his brother said he had been beaten and that his ribs and shoulders were covered in dark bruises and he could not walk for 10 days after the interrogation.
Wedad ignored their threats and continued his work, his brother said, including publishing articles and Facebook posts alleging corruption within the KRG. He also wrote Facebook posts criticizing Kurdistan Democratic Party forces for abandoning the Yezidi community when the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, took over the area where they lived, killing and abducting thousands of Yezidis. Another friend said that the journalist had told him that he was in danger if he stayed in the Dohuk area.
On August 13, at 8:45 a.m., Wedad Hussein Ali dropped another brother, Sardar, 35, at the construction site where he worked near a marketplace in the Malta neighborhood of Dohuk. Sardar Hussein Ali said that 15 minutes later, he saw large crowds gathering and police cars arriving at the marketplace. He saw his brother’s empty car in the middle of the road.
A police officer told him that unidentified men had detained his brother. Another man told him he saw two unmarked cars cut off his brother’s car, and that three men inside had dragged his brother out, hooded him, forced him into one of the cars at gunpoint, and drove off in the direction of the highway. The witness said the men told Wedad they were security forces, arresting him because he had “an accident with children.” The witness said he noted the make and license numbers of both cars.
Sardar Hussein Ali said that police officers took him and the witness to the police station, questioned them and another brother, Darban, who joined them, and promised to view footage from security cameras in the shop the witness had left before the abduction. The witness later posted the details of what he had seen on Facebook, a screenshot of which Human Rights Watch reviewed. The post began with, “After I post this, maybe someone will find my body in the city street.” Four days later the witness took down the post. The Hussein Ali family said that since then his profile has been inactive and they have tried unsuccessfully to contact him.
At about 10:45 a.m., as the brothers were driving home, Darban Hussein Ali said, a policeman he knows called him to say that someone from his family was at the Azadi Hospital in Dohuk. The family went to the hospital and found Wedad’s body in the morgue. He said they asked the investigative judge in the hospital how the body got there and were told that police from Semmel, a city west of Dohuk, found it dumped on the side of the road.
Photographs of Wedad’s body, taken by his family at the morgue, that Human Rights Watch reviewed, show lacerations, abrasions, and contusions of the head, torso, and extremities. The pattern of bruising and lesions suggests they may have been caused by a blunt long cylindrical object, such as a bat or baton, a doctor who reviewed the photos said.
A senior Semmel police officer told Human Rights Watch on August 18 that they were looking into the case but had no update on the progress of the investigation.
At least two other journalists have been murdered in the KRI. Kawa Garmiani, from the town of Kalar, was shot dead on December 5, 2013, after threatening to expose corruption. Garmiani’s lawyer said that in 2014, a court sentenced Twana Khalifa, who was allegedly affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan political party, to death for Garmiani’s murder, but an appellate court reduced the sentence to life in prison. Soran Mama Hama, a journalist in Kirkuk, was killed on July 21, 2008, after receiving threats about a report he planned to publish on alleged police complicity in the city’s sex work. No one has been arrested for his death.
A number of journalists, including Sherwan Sherwan and Sabah al-Atrushi, are facing prosecution for their reporting. Isa Barzani, a retired fighter for the Kurdish Peshmerga security forces, whose Facebook posts were critical of President Masoud Barzani, was arrested on August 4, 2015, by the Parastin and held for six months, then released and barred from travelling outside the KRI.
The KRG should establish an independent investigation into Wedad Hussein Ali’s death, particularly in light of the implication of Kurdish security forces. Police should immediately release the video showing his kidnapping, as well as the report of the police who allegedly found his body.
“The authorities’ failure to prevent attacks on journalists not only denies them justice, but has a chilling effect on what they can report,” Whitson said. “The authorities should show they are actively and aggressively hunting for the culprits of this crime, and not just promising yet another bottomless investigation.”
Sarah Leah Whitson
Middle East director at Human Rights Watch
Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/25/iraqi-kurdistan-kurdish-journalist-abducted-killed
Two Turkish police officers have been killed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in two separate attacks in Turkey’s southeast, officials say.A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said PKK freedom fighters detonated a roadside bomb by remote control late on Monday as a military vehicle was traveling along a road in the Uludere district of Sirnak Province, situated some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) east of the capital, Ankara.
The source added that a policeman, identified as Yahya Akan, was wounded in the attack. He was transported to hospital, where he succumbed to his grave injuries.
Separately, PKK freedom fighters attacked Camlica Village in Adiyaman Province, critically wounding a policeman named Yusuf Sonmez, who likewise died of his injuries later.
Turkish military forces have been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against PKK positions in Turkey’s troubled southeastern border region as well as in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region over the past few months.
The campaign began following a July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, which claimed more than 30 civilian lives. Turkish officials held the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group responsible for the act of terror.
The PKK militants, who accuse the Ankara government of supporting Daesh, launched a string of attacks against Turkish security forces after the bombing, prompting the Turkish military operations in response.
The Ankara government’s involvement in the anti-PKK operations comes as the Turkish military is reeling from the aftereffects of a failed coup attempt on July 15.
Turkish authorities have dismissed hundreds of army generals and admirals as well as low-ranking military personnel over allegations of involvement in the botched putsch.
File photo shows Turkish army soldiers standing guard during operations against Kurdish militants southeast of the country. (AFP photo)
Two attacks claimed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants have killed six Turkish army soldiers in southeast of the country.
Security sources said Sunday that the first attacked killed five soldiers who were traveling in Hakkari Province when a roadside bomb ripped through their military vehicle.
They said PKK militants had planted the bomb on a road along the border with Iraq.
The Turkish army declared an alert for border units while an air-backed operation was launched to find those responsible.
State-run Anadolu agency quoted other military sources as saying that “PKK terrorists” were behind the attack.
In a separate development, Kurdish militants conducted a car bomb attack against a military outpost in the Ercis district of Van province in southeast Turkey, in which one soldier lost his life along with a member of the village guard, Anadolu agency reported.
At least 15 people were injured including 10 soldiers and five village guards during the second attack. Among those wounded, one was seriously injured in the mainly Kurdish province, AFP quoted a Turkish army statement as saying.
Southeastern Turkey has been the scene of deadly fighting between Kurdish militants and the military over the past months. The fighting escalated after Turkey declared the collapse of years-long peace negotiations with the Kurds last year and began imposing restrictions in Kurdish-dominated areas.
Ankara has also intensified attacks on alleged PKK positions in Iraq and Syria, further deepening the unrest inside its territories. The PKK, which mainly operates in the mountainous regions of Iraq, has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks in major Turkish cities over the past months.
Turkey says it has managed to kill thousands of PKK militants in its massive operations in the southeast. Many challenge the figure, saying many of those killed were civilians. Official figures says around 600 Turkish soldiers, police forces and village guards have also been killed since the fighting flared up in July 2015.
Three people, including two soldiers died on Saturday after PKK militants carried out a car bomb attack on a military outpost in southeast Turkey and then opened fire on the facility. The car bombing which targeted the Cevizlik village outpost in Mardin province also injured 23 more soldiers.
Thursday, July 7, 2016 11:51 PM EDT
Three Dallas police officers were killed and seven others were wounded Thursday night during a demonstration protesting the police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana this week, according to Chief David O. Brown of the Dallas police.
AA photo
Six soldiers were killed on June 24 in two separate Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacks in the Çukurca district of the southeastern province of Hakkari and the Derik district of the southeastern province of Mardin.
The Turkish General Staff announced that PKK detonated a hand-made explosive placed on the Hakkari-Çukurca motorway, killing four soldiers.
Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Ali Danyar, Gendarmerie NCO Mustafa Gevrek, Specialized Sgt. Karun Koçak and Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Kerim Örtücü lost their lives in the attack.
An air-supported operation was begun following the attack.
In a separate attack, a group of PKK opened fire on the Soğukkuyu Gendarmerie Post in the morning hours, triggering an armed clash. An additional team of reinforcements was also deployed to the post from the district center.
NCO Mustafa Ayna, 29, and Specialized Sgt. Oğuz Emre Erkoç, 36, were killed in an ambush as the reinforcements arrived at the area.
A wide-scale operation has begun in the region to apprehend the militants.
Meanwhile, one civilian was killed and another 16, including military personnel, were wounded on June 23 in a PKK car bomb attack in the Ömerli district of Mardin, the governor’s office has announced.
PKK militants remotely detonated a bomb-laden car at the entrance to the Ömerli Gendarmerie Post at around 8:25 p.m. A truck driver identified as Halil İbrahim Sevimli, who was passing near the post, was killed while five people were wounded in the attack, a statement by the Mardin Governor’s Office said.
Eleven military personnel and their relatives inside the military lodgings were slightly injured due to broken glass. The wounded were taken to hospitals in Mardin and Ömerli for treatment, the office said.
The explosion also created a hole on the Ömerli-Midyat motorway which was later closed to traffic.
Source: hurriyetdaily
About 20 people were killed and at least 42 people were wounded when a gunman armed with an assault rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a downtown Orlando nightclub about 2 a.m., Police Chief John Mina said.
The police said they had classified the attack as a “terror incident.” The gunman was not from the Orlando area and was organized and well-prepared, they said.
The gunman was found dead inside the Pulse nightclub, one of the largest in Orlando, about 5 a.m. after a shootout with the police, Chief Mina said.
A series of fresh clashes between Turkish army and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have claimed the lives of at least three soldiers in the country’s restive southeast over the past 24 hours.
Turkish military said in a statement on Monday that two soldiers were killed in the Kurdish-dominated province of Sirnak, while another lost his life in neighboring Siirt Province near the Iraqi border.
Turkish officials say a member of its special operations police was among those killed.
The statement added that two PKK militants were killed in the ongoing high-scale military operation across the volatile region.
This comes days after six Turkish soldiers were killed in a bomb attack ripping through a military convoy in the Kurdish-dominated Van Province On May 24. Also on May 18, a bomb attack on military vehicles in the town of Semdinli in Hakkari Province killed four soldiers and wounded nine others.
Turkish sources blamed members of the PKK militant group for the attacks.
The Turkish military has launched large-scale military operations against the PKK militants in its southern border region since last summer. The government has imposed curfew in the areas that have been targeted in the army’s anti-PKK campaign.
The Turkish military has also been pounding the PKK positions in northern Iraq.
Ankara’s operations against PKK began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, with the Turkish government blaming the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group for the attack.
Following the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse the government in Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.
A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following the Turkish strikes against the group. The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The conflict has left thousands of people dead.