Eight more PKK militants surrender in Nusaybin
MARDİN
AA photo
Eight more outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants have surrendered to security forces in the Nusaybin district of southeastern Mardin province, raising the total figure of surrendered militants to 76 since May 24.Meanwhile, anti-terror operations continue in the province as the PKK allegedly killed a village head on May 27.
The Mardin Governor’s Office released an official statement on its website and announced that eight other militants surrendered on May 27, in addition to the 68 militants who have surrendered since the beginning of the “Atmaca-7” operation on March 14. Another militant was captured alive by security forces, the statement added.
The moments of surrender of five militants were overheard from the walkie-talkies of the security forces, whereby a group of militants agreed to walk out from their shelter with white flags if the security forces created a security corridor.
All surrendered militants were brought to related security units to have their testimonies taken, according to reports.
On the other hand, sources from security units have refuted earlier claims from the PKK’s acting leader Murat Karayılan that five PKK militants who were killed on May 26 died because “a PKK [member] detonated a suicide bomb.”
Two of the militants were killed in a different area than the remaining three, sources said, adding that a PKK militant from the mountain cadre indeed detonated a suicide vest but reportedly to avoid being captured in an urban area.
Meanwhile, PKK militants in the Yeşili district of the southeastern province of Mardin allegedly killed a village chief before setting his car on fire late on May 26, the governor’s office alleged in a separate statement.
Relatives of Mehmet Acu, the village chief of Bahçebaşı, had applied to the district police as they could not reach him.
Police later found Acu’s body inside his burned-out car, abandoned around four kilometers away from Bahçebaşı.
The militants had also written “PKK” on the asphalt behind the car using spray paint, Turkish officials alleged.
Acu’s body was transferred to the morgue at the Mardin State Hospital for an autopsy while local security forces have opened a wide-scale investigation into the incident.
According to an official statement from the governor’s office, a total of 482 PKK militants have been killed in Nusaybin district so far, while 1,035 explosive devices were destroyed and 406 barricades were removed.
At least 68 security officials have also been killed in the district since March 14, the statement said.
Today’s surrenders are the third wave of a move that started on May 24, when 25 militants surrendered reportedly after being cornered in Nusaybin’s Fırat neighborhood. Reports indicate that initially only one militant waved the white flag and that she later convinced 24 others to follow.
Two days later, on May 26, some 42 PKK militants, including 10 women and 32 men, reportedly surrendered to the authorities as operations intensified in Nusaybin’s Fırat and Yenişehir neighborhoods.
The Mardin Governor’s Office released an official statement on its website and announced that eight other militants surrendered on May 27, in addition to the 68 militants who have surrendered since the beginning of the “Atmaca-7” operation on March 14. Another militant was captured alive by security forces, the statement added.
The moments of surrender of five militants were overheard from the walkie-talkies of the security forces, whereby a group of militants agreed to walk out from their shelter with white flags if the security forces created a security corridor.
All surrendered militants were brought to related security units to have their testimonies taken, according to reports.
On the other hand, sources from security units have refuted earlier claims from the PKK’s acting leader Murat Karayılan that five PKK militants who were killed on May 26 died because “a PKK [member] detonated a suicide bomb.”
Two of the militants were killed in a different area than the remaining three, sources said, adding that a PKK militant from the mountain cadre indeed detonated a suicide vest but reportedly to avoid being captured in an urban area.
Meanwhile, PKK militants in the Yeşili district of the southeastern province of Mardin allegedly killed a village chief before setting his car on fire late on May 26, the governor’s office alleged in a separate statement.
Relatives of Mehmet Acu, the village chief of Bahçebaşı, had applied to the district police as they could not reach him.
Police later found Acu’s body inside his burned-out car, abandoned around four kilometers away from Bahçebaşı.
The militants had also written “PKK” on the asphalt behind the car using spray paint, Turkish officials alleged.
Acu’s body was transferred to the morgue at the Mardin State Hospital for an autopsy while local security forces have opened a wide-scale investigation into the incident.
According to an official statement from the governor’s office, a total of 482 PKK militants have been killed in Nusaybin district so far, while 1,035 explosive devices were destroyed and 406 barricades were removed.
At least 68 security officials have also been killed in the district since March 14, the statement said.
Today’s surrenders are the third wave of a move that started on May 24, when 25 militants surrendered reportedly after being cornered in Nusaybin’s Fırat neighborhood. Reports indicate that initially only one militant waved the white flag and that she later convinced 24 others to follow.
Two days later, on May 26, some 42 PKK militants, including 10 women and 32 men, reportedly surrendered to the authorities as operations intensified in Nusaybin’s Fırat and Yenişehir neighborhoods.