One soldier killed in PKK bomb attack

AA photo

A Turkish soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack in Turkey’s southeastern Şırnak province on Nov. 30, a military official said.

The soldier was severely injured when explosives believed to have been planted by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants detonated as a military vehicle passed in Uludere, a district lying on the Iraq border.

He later died of his wounds in hospital, the official said.

The attack came one day after the Governor’s Office in Şırnak announced that 10 PKK militants were “neutralized” in an ongoing anti-terror operation in the province.

“Neutralized” is a term used by the military and state officials to describe militants both killed and captured.

“14 terrorists were neutralized for the past week in Cudi Mountain area,” added a written statement.

According to a statement by the Turkish General Staff, three PKK militants were “neutralized” during a conflict in Hozat district of eastern Tunceli province.      

Two militants were “neutralized” in an air operation in Şırnak’s suburbs, while five others were killed in a drone strike and three were killed in clashes with security forces in the same area, according to the Turkish military.

Meanwhile, six suspects have been arrested in southeastern Batman province on charges of aiding and abetting PKK militants, according to the provincial gendarmerie command.  
   
The suspects were later remanded in custody by Batman criminal court of peace.      

The PKK - listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU - resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July last year. Since then, more than 300 civilians and nearly 800 security personnel have been killed, while around 8,000 PKK militants have been killed or apprehended, according to official numbers.