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Four Turkish soldiers killed, seven wounded in PKK attacks, curfew imposed

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229903Two 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.

Three Turkish police forces, civilian killed in PKK attacks

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Villagers search for the bodies of Turkish soldiers inside a destroyed armored vehicle near Dağlıca district, southeastern Turkey, on September 7, 2015. (AFP)

Villagers search for the bodies of Turkish soldiers inside a destroyed armored vehicle near Dağlıca district, southeastern Turkey, on September 7, 2015. (AFP)

Three Turkish police forces and a civilian have been killed in two roadside bomb attacks blamed on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the country’s southeast.

The explosive, planted under a bridge on Şemdinli-Yüksekova highway in the Şemdinli district of Hakkâri province, detonated on Tuesday afternoon while an army vehicle was passing, Turkey’s English-language news website Bugun cited a statement released by the General Staff of Turkey.

Three more soldiers also sustained injuries in the incident and were taken to a hospital, the statement further said.

Elsewhere in the province of Batman, a similar attack claimed the lives of a police officer and a truck driver and wounded three other policemen.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday that over 30 PKK militants had been killed in an overnight cross-border offensive by the country’s army.

Ankara launched an operation against PKK militants in the country and in neighboring Iraq in July. A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared as null and void following the Turkish military campaign.

Erdogan has vowed to eliminate the outlawed PKK, which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.​

Turkish commander killed in PKK clashes

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Major Yavuz Sonat, the commander of the Tunceli Provincial Gendarmerie Command

Major Yavuz Sonat, the commander of the Tunceli Provincial Gendarmerie Command

A Turkish major has been killed after clashes broke out with a group of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the country’s eastern Tunceli Province.

On Saturday, the PKK militants attacked Turkish soldiers near the village of Yaprakli, seriously injuring Yavuz Sonat, the commander of the Tunceli Provincial Gendarmerie Command.

Sonat succumbed to his injuries after he was transferred to Fırat University Hospital.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan condemned the attack, saying those responsible for “such bloody acts” would be brought to justice.

Three Turkish security forces have lost their lives in clashes in the region since Friday.

Furthermore, five civilians and more than 30 PKK militants have since been killed in Sirnak Province.

Turkish army has been targeting PKK positions and hideouts in Gara, northern Iraq.

Ankara launched an operation against PKK militants in the country, as well as PKK positions in neighboring Iraq in July. The operation led the PKK to declare a shaky ceasefire deal in place since 2013 null and void.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to eliminate the outlawed PKK, which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since 1984.

 

Turkey: Two security personnel killed, nine others injured in PKK attacks in southeast

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n_88981_1ŞIRNAK – Doğan News Agency,

Two soldiers and 34 militants were killed in two separate attacks and a military operation in southeastern Turkey late on Sept. 24 and early on Sept. 25, the Turkish Armed Forces has announced.

The Chief of General Staff said in a written statement on Sept. 25 that two soldiers were killed in the two attacks late on Sept. 24 and early on Sept. 25, each conducted by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the Beytüşşebap district of the southeastern province of Şırnak.

Eight soldiers and a village guard were also injured in the attacks that started at 11 p.m. Sept. 24 and 5:40 a.m. Sept. 25, the statement said, adding that all those who were injured in the attacks were being treated in the Şırnak Public Hospital.

Turkey: 36 killed as Turkish forces clash with PKK militants

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340b292d-cfdd-49e5-8c72-61d366be801cThirty six people have been killed in two separate attacks by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants against Turkey’s armed forces, the Turkish military says.

The raids in the southeastern Sirnak Province took place on Thursday night and Friday, killing two Turkish soldiers and wounding nine others, the General Staff announced in a statement on Friday.

The wounded soldiers were not in life-threatening conditions and were receiving care at the Sirnak Military Hospital.

The military also said that 34 terrorists were “rendered ineffective” in retaliatory operations that followed the attacks.

The PKK casualties are expected to increase as security operations backed by Turkish fighter jets are still ongoing, the statement added.

Since July, a deadly conflict has been going on between the PKK and Turkish security forces. The clashes began when Turkey set off its aerial campaign against purported Daesh (ISIL) targets in Syria as well as PKK positions in Turkey and Iraq.

Ankara’s military campaign against the PKK voided a shaky ceasefire that had been declared in 2013.

Turkey: 24 soldiers injured in two PKK attacks in eastern Turkey

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The injured were transferred to a hospital in Van. (Photo: DHA)

The injured were transferred to a hospital in Van. (Photo: DHA)

24 soldiers were injured in two separate bomb attacks by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Başkale district of Van province late on Monday night.

The first blast, which took place at around 11 p.m. on Monday night, struck a military vehicle and injured 13 soldiers. Two hours later, another military vehicle was hit by a blast in a nearby area, with 11 soldiers injured.

The Doğan news agency has reported that the injured soldiers were transferred to a hospital in the city of Van after receiving initial treatment at Başkale State Hospital. An air operation has been launched in the area to find the perpetrators.

PKK attack police chief’s car in Tunceli, two injured

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229340

PKK recently blocked a road connecting Hozat to Tunceli. (Photo: DHA)

The police chief of the hozat district of Tunceli and another police officer traveling with him were seriously injured when members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacked his car on Monday. 

The PKK opened fire on Hozat Police Chief Adem Albay with automatic rifles near Karaoğlan area late on Monday. Albay and police officer Hayati Çapa were seriously injured in the attack while the terrorists fled the scene. The injured police officers were initially taken to the Hozat State Hospital and then transferred to Elazığ Military Hospital.

A comprehensive air-backed operation was launched to perpetrators of the attack.

Kurdish #PKK rules out any unilateral ceasefire in Turkey

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pkk-rules-out-any-unilateral-ceasefire-in-turkey_9505_720_400A commander of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ruled out a unilateral ceasefire on Thursday and accused the Turkish government of pursuing war to gain more votes.

Hundreds have been killed in almost daily bloody clashes between the PKK and security forces in the largely Kurdish southeast since a long-standing ceasefire and peace overtures fell apart in July.

With an election looming in six weeks, Ankara says the militants must put down their weapons and return to their camps in northern Iraq before it will halt operations and restart peace talks.

“A ceasefire can only be mutual,” PKK field commander Murat Karayılan told the Fırat news agency, which is close to the group, in an interview. “Our experience teaches us that positive outcomes cannot be achieved through unilateral ceasefires.”

On Wednesday, a Kurdish militant umbrella group said it was ready for talks supervised by a third party. Karayılan is based in the remote mountains of northern Iraq, from where he directs the PKK insurgency against Turkey.

The PKK launched a separatist armed struggle in 1984 before moderating its goal to improving the rights of Turkey’s roughly 12 million Kurds.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has boosted Kurdish cultural rights during more than a decade in power, began peace talks with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in 2012, risking nationalist wrath.

In a June general election, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) passed the 10 percent election threshold for the first time and gained 80 seats in Turkey’s 550-seat parliament, depriving the ruling AK Party of its overall majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002.

“Even if we stop, AK Party will not,” Karayılan said. “They will continue war as long as the war conditions are in their benefit. The conditions for a mutual ceasefire don’t seem possible before Nov. 1.”

The Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), the Kurdish militants’ umbrella political group, had said on Wednesday it appreciated calls made by democratic groups in Turkey, the European Union and European Parliament for a mutual ceasefire and a return to negotiations.

“We emphasize once again that we are ready for a mutual and arbitrated ceasefire through negotiations, and support the efforts and struggle of peoples and pro-peace circles for a democratic political resolution and lasting peace,” it said.

The group blamed Erdoğan and the AK Party he founded for the collapse of the peace process.

“This is the war of the palace,” KCK said, referring to Erdoğan. “This war makes the (Kurdish and Turkish) people confront each other and causes a de facto division of the land.”

Source: Reuters

One dead, one wounded in clashes in Turkey’s east

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clsh.thumbOne assailant was killed and one was wounded on Sept. 15 during clashes between security forces and members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in various neighborhoods in the eastern province of Van, the Hurriyet Daily News reports quoting the local governor’s office has stated.

PKK members blocked roads in the Karşıyaka, Yenimahalle and Şabaniye neighborhoods with barricades. Locals living in the neighborhoods informed security forces of the incidents as armored police vehicles deployed to the areas were targeted with hidden bombs, Molotov cocktails and long-barreled weapons.

Meanwhile, PKK members responded to the intervention of the security forces by firing their weapons and using improvised explosives. One assailant, wearing a mask and identified as V.B., was killed while another identified as M.İ. was wounded, the statement said.

The governor’s office said judicial and administrative investigations into the incidents were continuing.

 

Turkey Curfew re-declared in tense Cizre, where numerous civilians were killed in clashes

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228732A curfew, which was lifted as of Saturday morning after it had been in place for eight days in the restive district of Cizre in the southeastern Şırnak province, has been re-declared on Sunday.

According to media reports, the Şırnak Governor’s Office declared a new curfew in Cizre, the district where the prolonged curfew has left behind a scene resembling a battlefield due to days-long clashes between Turkish security forces and terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The curfew reportedly began at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) reported on Saturday that 22 civilians were killed in clashes in the district with a population of more than 100,000.

On Saturday, Interim Minister of European Union Affairs Ali Haydar Konca also reported the deaths of more than 20 civilians, adding that approximately 50 had been injured while the curfew was in place.