One police officer killed, another wounded in PKK attack in southeast

MARDİN – Anadolu Agency

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One police officer and seven militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed after a clash between the two sides that was precipitated by a militant attack on an armored vehicle in the Nusaybin district of the southeastern province of Mardin on Aug. 12.

One police officer was also wounded in the attack. 

According to a statement made by the Mardin Governor’s Office, the clashes erupted after militants in a vehicle belonging to a cargo company disobeyed an order from police to stop and fired at the officers at around 7:30 a.m. on a road entrance to Nusaybin from the direction of the Cizre district of the southeastern province of Şırnak.  

In the exchange of fire, police officer Durmuş Polat was wounded while two militants were killed at the scene and another was caught severely wounded. Polat was taken to Nusaybin Public Hospital and later succumbed to his injuries.  

The statement added that during a search at the scene and of the vehicle, police teams found two M-16s, three Kalashnikovs, one pistol, four hand grenades, 18 ammunition clips and three pairs of binoculars.  

Five more militants were killed in follow-up operations in the area, bringing the number of killed militants to seven.