56 PKK militants ‘neutralized’ in one week in Turkey

ANKARA

At least 56 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants were “neutralized,” including 45 who were killed, across Turkey between Oct. 10 and 17, while 19 planned attacks were thwarted, the Interior Ministry has stated.

Of the 19 attacks thwarted by the security forces, seven involved bomb-laden vehicles and one was a suicide bomb attack, according to the ministry statement.  

Meanwhile, Turkey imposed round-the-clock curfews on 15 villages in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Oct. 17 at 5 a.m. as part of operations conducted against PKK militants, Anadolu Agency reported.
Authorities in Diyarbakır imposed the lockdown as security forces searched for key figures and members of the PKK in a forested area near the 15 villages in the Lice, Hazro and Kocaköy districts, the provincial governor said in a statement. 

The operation aims to incapacitate PKK militants, destroy shelters, depots and anti-aircraft sites used by PKK militants.

Meanwhile, three PKK militants were neutralized, a euphemism used by the Turkish military to denote killed or incapacitated militants, during an operation conducted by security forces in the southeastern province of Siirt on Oct. 17.

The operation backed by unmanned aerial vehicle was conducted with the cooperation of the Batman and Siirt provincial gendarmerie forces. On late Oct. 16, gendarmerie forces were in close contact with militants on the outskirts of Güneşli village in Siirt. 

The three militants, two of them women, were neutralized during the clashes.

Gendarmerie forces are continuing their search operations in the region.

In addition, the Turkish army destroyed six PKK targets on the outskirts of the eastern province of Tunceli during an air operation on Oct. 16.

The jets reportedly returned to their base after the operation.