Clashes kill 3 soldiers

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Some 37 of 43 outposts stationed along the 285 kilometer-long border that Turkey shares with Iran have been introduced by by the governor of Van.

Three Turkish soldiers and three Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members were killed overnight after PKK militants ambushed two military posts and a base in southeastern Turkey.

The simultaneous attacks launched by PKK rebels near Çukurca in Hakkari province, which borders Iran and Iraq, triggered fighting that lasted until the early hours.

Early Wednesday PKK members staged an attack on the Işıklı and Karataş Gendarmerie Outposts and Gazitepe Base Region in the Çukurca town of Hakkari.

According to the Hakkari Governorship, PKK members attacked the Turkish targets with heavy weapons and rocket launchers. Turkish troops responded by firing artillery shells and helicopters. Three Turkish troops were killed and another was wounded in the clashes, the Hakkari Governorship said.

Hakkari Governorship also announced that 3 PKK members were killed in the clashes. Another four PKK members were caught dead in another operation by the in Hakkari’s Kazan district, Doğan News Agency later reported.Also, a special sergeant who was heavily injured in clashes in Hakkari’s Kazan district on Oct. 15, Fırat Yıldırım, lost his life yesterday. Military operations in the region are continuing.
Çukurca is often the scene of intense fighting between Turkish forces and members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is labelled as a terrorist organisation by Turkey as well as much of the international community.

PKK briefly kidnaps teachers

Suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) briefly kidnapped six school teachers in the eastern province of Iğdır yesterday before releasing them.

Two armed militants from the group allegedly entered a school in the Bulakbaşı village of the province’s Karakoyunlu district, forcing the 19 teachers there to go outside. The militants then kidnapped six of the teachers, who were identified as Umut Görkem Sevinç, Ersin Karakaya, Soner Er, Mehmet Koçubaba, Lütfü Atılmış, and Abdulllah Enes Er.

The group subjected the teachers to propaganda for around an hour before releasing them unharmed. Meanwhile, three female teachers and their driver were kidnapped by the PKK in the southeastern province of Siirt on Oct. 15 before being freed a day later.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday said the PKK had organized about 110 attacks against educational institutions this year. “The terrorist organization knows that it would lose its reason for existence if ignorance comes to an end. For this reason they are hostile to schools, so they attack educational institutions,” he said.