15 PKK militants ‘neutralized’ across Turkey: Interior Ministry

ANKARA

The Interior Ministry has stated that a total of 15 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants were “neutralized” during operations across the country on Sept. 6.

The authorities use the word “neutralized” to refer to militants who have been either killed, wounded or captured.

The ministry stated that five militants were “neutralized” in the southeastern province of Şırnak, five were “neutralized” in the eastern province of Ağrı, and five were “neutralized” in addition to one injured in the eastern province of Muş.

The ministry also added that another militant “neutralized” in an operation in the southern province of Mersin on Sept. 6 was a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

The killed ISIL militant had been planning a suicide attack on a police station in the Yenişehir district of Mersin, police stated.

Earlier on Sept. 6, the Şırnak Governor’s Office had detailed that security forces killed five PKK militants planning an attack on troops in the Behrancı valley in an air-supported operation.

Two women militants were among those killed, it added.        

In Alaniçi, a mountain village in the eastern province of Muş, four PKK militants were killed and a wounded militant was captured on during an ongoing operation.        

Five others were killed on the Şahgül plateau in the Diyadin district of the neighboring province of Ağrı. 

Separately, PKK militants on Sept. 6 opened fire on workers in the Yüksekova district of the southeastern province of Hakkari, killing two and wounding three, Doğan News Agency has reported.

The militants, armed with long-barrelled weapons, opened fire on workers at an energy transmission line near the Çobanpınar village in the afternoon hours.

Two of the workers were killed in the fire and another three, with one in a critical condition, were wounded.

They were transferred to hospitals as security units launched an operation to apprehend the militants responsible for the attack.

The Hakkari Governor’s Office also stated that security forces defused hand-made explosives placed by PKK militants at seven different spots in the Hakkari-Çukurca highway.