Security officials suspended for negligence in relation to PKK attack in Turkey’s southeast

MARDİN

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A gendarmerie commander and a police chief have been suspended in relation to a deadly attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Midyat district of the southeastern province of Mardin.

The officials were suspended by the Interior Ministry over allegations of negligence in a car-bomb attack that was carried out on the police headquarters building in Midyat on June 8, which claimed the lives of three police officers and three civilians, Tolga Şardan from daily Milliyet reported on July 13. 

Interior Minister Efkan Ala instructed the ministry inspectors to investigate the attack that was carried out with 500 kilograms of explosives in order to determine if there was any negligence in the incident. Two inspectors were assigned to the task and they conducted investigations at the police headquarters. 

The car used in the attack was being followed by the Midyat district gendarmerie command upon intelligence received from an informant, according to Milliyet. The inspectors stated a sergeant from the gendarmerie command talked to the informant, whose name was kept secret, and the command did intelligence work on the case. 

The car reportedly passed in front of the gendarmerie command while it was going to the police headquarters to carry out the attack, but the gendarmerie officials didn’t stop the vehicle. The district’s police chief was then informed of the car heading towards the police headquarters, but there wasn’t enough time left to intervene, according to the inspectors.  

The inspectors launched investigations into the incident after they collected their findings. They then prepared a report on the attack and requested the suspension of the district’s gendarmerie commander and police chief on negligence allegations. 

The snap report was sent to Ankara and Ala granted approval to suspend the officials. 

The inspectors will next send the report to the prosecutor’s office after completing the collection of necessary evidence and testimonies and a discipline report will be written.

The attack that killed civilians and police officers, including a six-month pregnant police officer Şerife Özden Kalmış, has been claimed by the PKK. 

The PKK issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack and saying the suicide bomber who carried it out was a man. 

Before the outlawed group’s statement, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım had already pointed the finger at the PKK for the attack carried out during Ramadan.