Policeman killed in gun attack

DİYARBAKIR - Doğan News Agency

A 32-year-old police officer died in hospital Dec. 26 after alleged members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) opened fire on a police vehicle in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Bismil district.

 “There is no end to [such acts] committed by certain persons who have shed all their hopes about the future and are aiming to drag our nation into chaos and realize their own ends through the [inducement] of the [PKK],” Diyarbakır Gov. Mustafa Toprak said yesterday following the death of officer Zafer Seyli.
Seyil’s body will be sent to his home town of Malatya in eastern Turkey, while another law enforcement officer was also injured in the ambush, which came just two days after gendarmerie special operations units discovered an underground PKK hideout in the southeastern province of Bingöl that is said to be the biggest ever found.

Locals in the region have begun to alert security forces with greater frequency, as it has become apparent that the PKK is not serving the people, Toprak said, adding that the PKK was engaging in such acts because it sensed the end was near.

The four assailants fled the scene by car after opening fire on the patrolling police vehicle, while security forces launched an operation in the region to locate the fugitive militants, according to reports.
Seyil was married and had two children.

The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.