Three police officers, one child wounded in Turkey’s southeast

MARDİN – Doğan News Agency

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Three police officers and a child have been wounded in clashes between the youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and security forces working to open roads closed by the militant group in Turkey’s southeastern province of Mardin.

Security forces dispatched armored vehicles to Mardin’s Nusaybin district after the outlawed Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) seized citizens’ cars and lined them up in order to close roads to traffic at 7.30 p.m. on Nov. 8. 

A group of masked YDG-H militants arrived at Lozan Street in the Yeşilkent neighborhood and appropriated car keys from drivers. The group also fired at surveillance cameras to avoid being caught by the police. 

While using the cars to close down Lozan Street, the group also built barricades to the side streets of the Yenituran neighborhood. 

Police used armored vehicles to enter the streets and open roads to traffic. However, clashes erupted when the militants attacked an armored vehicle with an improvised explosive device. 

Three wounded police officers and 14-year-old Abdulselam Deniz, who was also injured during the explosion, were transferred to the Nusaybin State Hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, two children were wounded on Nov. 8 after stepping on a mine laid by the PKK on the road connecting the Yüksekova and Şemdinli districts of southeastern Hakkari province. 

In a written statement, the Hakkari Governorate stated the children were collecting firewood at Şemdinli’s Korgan village before the explosion. 

“Both children were initially brought to Yüksekova State Hospital and then transferred to Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Research Hospital via a military helicopter,” it said.