Abducted policeman freed in operation in Turkey’s southeast

ŞIRNAK

DHA Photo

Turkish security forces have freed a police officer abducted by militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) youth wing in the country’s southeast in late 2015.

Police officer Ayhan Kaya, the personal bodyguard of Cizre District Gov. Ahmet Adanur, who was kidnapped in Cizre, a district in southeastern Şırnak province, on Dec. 10, 2015, was freed in a rescue operation early Feb. 1, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The operation was led by the Şırnak Directorate of Intelligence.

The operation came more than a month after Kaya was abducted by militants from the outlawed PKK’s youth-wing, the outlawed Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), at around 5 p.m. on Dec. 10, 2015, in the Cizre, which has been under military curfew for counterterrorism operations targeting the PKK. 

Kaya was reportedly abducted on his way back from Cizre Hospital, where he was receiving treatment for a health problem. 

Reports said militants from the YDG-H abducted Kaya at gunpoint after intercepting his car. The militants then used Kaya’s car to flee the scene.

After news broke of Kaya’s abduction, security forces launched an extensive operation in the district to locate Kaya. Entrances and exits leading in and out of Cizre had been blocked as part of the ongoing operation at the time.