PKK releases two officials abducted in customs raid

VAN / ORDU – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has released one customs officials and a driver that it recently took hostage, while ten remain in captivity.

Eleven customs officials and a driver were reported missing after they did not return home from work on Aug. 22, despite taking a shuttle at 4.30 p.m. at the end of their shifts. 

The officials were on duty at the Kapıköy border crossing in Van’s Saray district, bordering Iran. 

While the workers at the crossing who left work with their private cars arrived in Van, those who took the shuttle went missing.

The gendarmerie initiated a search to locate the missing officers.

While the Van Governor’s Office stated that there were no updates on the officials’ whereabouts, the Turkish General Staff announced that they had been abducted by PKK militants. 

At midnight on Aug. 23, one of the missing officers and the driver were released.

The PKK has been staging attacks against Turkish security forces since the 2013 ceasefire was torn up after a bombing killed 33 people in the southern border town of Suruç on July 20. 

The Turkish army has been retaliating with air raids and military operations in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. 

The abduction of the 12 people comes after 10 customs officials were taken hostage by the PKK on Aug. 10.

The officials were on duty at the Üzümlü border crossing in the Hakkari province’s Yüksekova district. There has been no news on their whereabouts since the seizure.