PKK kills 1,017 people since end of dialogue in July 2015

ANKARA

Outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants have killed a total of 1,017 people in a number of attacks since a government-initiated peace process ended in July 2015 following a two-and-a-half-year cease-fire, according to information compiled by the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Some 793 of those who were killed in various PKK attacks between July 20, 2015, and Nov. 9 were security personnel, including police officers, soldiers and village guards, while the remaining 314 were civilians.
Over 4,000 security personnel and 2,000 civilians were also wounded in PKK attacks, according to the agency.

The militants also staged bomb attacks in city centers which came after intensified security operations in the region. 

On Aug. 19, PKK militants carried out a car bomb attack on the police headquarters in Elazığ. Three police officers were killed and around 100 people were wounded in the attack.

On Sept. 12, a total of 54 people, four of whom were police officers, were wounded in another car bomb attack near a police checkpoint in front of the provincial headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Van.

On Nov. 6, PKK militants detonated a bomb-laden vehicle near an anti-riot police station in Diyarbakır, killing 11 people, including two police officers, and wounding more than 100. 

PKK militants also killed three AKP politicians and two village chiefs in the region.

According to information from security forces, more than 10,000 PKK militants were also killed in operations in 478 days. The group disputes the figure.

Meanwhile on Nov. 10, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, accompanied by force commanders, visited Şırnak, where a total of 19 PKK militants were killed in security forces operations over the last 10 days.

Their visit came nearly a month after the military intensified its deployment with tanks and other armored vehicles to Silopi near the border with Iraq, amid a possible offensive by the al-Hashd al-Shaabi Shiite militia to liberate Tal Afar, which is considered a sensitive target for Ankara. 

Elsewhere, three people were wounded in a PKK attack in the Derik district Mardin on Nov. 10, targeting the district governor’s office.

Among the wounded was also District Gov. Muhammet Fatih Safitürk who was a trustee appointed in September. 

On Nov. 9, a total of four security personnel and one civilian were killed in two separate PKK attacks in Hakkari and Van.     

Contracted private Nurullah Çakır was killed in a PKK mortar attack in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari.

Village guards Ekrem Keskin, Şabettin Keskin, Hüsnü Keskin and civilian Mehmet Demir were killed in the Başkale district of Van when PKK militants opened fire with long-barreled weapons.