Death toll rises to four in clashes with PKK in Diyarbakır’s Sur

DİYARBAKIR - Doğan News Agency

Buildings which were damaged during the security operations and clashes between Turkish security forces and outlawed PKK militants, are pictured in Sur district of Diyarbakır, Turkey February 11, 2016. REUTERS Photo

Four members of Turkey’s security forces have been killed amid clashes between the government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Sur district.

The death toll rose to four after a special operations police was killed in Sur, hours after two soldiers and a policeman were killed in an armed attack. 

According to a statement by the Turkish Army, the two soldiers and policeman were heavily wounded in an operation in Sur early on Feb. 19. 

“Our wounded officers were swiftly brought to a hospital, but they could not be saved despite all efforts,” it said, adding that all three officers succumbed to their wounds by 5:45 a.m.

The details of the fourth officer’s death have yet to be revealed.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said earlier the same day that four PKK militants were killed in counterterrorism operations against the militant group in İdil, a district in the southeastern province of Şırnak where local administration has imposed a curfew starting from 11 p.m. on Feb. 15, in order to prevent civillian casualties.