Toll rises in ongoing army ops against PKK

HAKKARİ

AA photo

The death toll in the clashes between Turkish security forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continued to rise on Sept. 5, with the PKK killing two soldiers and the army announcing that at least 157 militants had been “neutralized” since the start of the security operations in the Çukurca district of southeastern Hakkari province. 

Two soldiers were killed during clashes with PKK militants in Çukurca on Sept. 5. Security forces engaged in an armed clash with a group of PKK militants during the ongoing operations conducted in the Dağbaşı, Kale and Seni Tepe rural areas of the district, which resulted in the deaths of Tolga Akdaş and Serkan Bursalı.

Meanwhile, at least 157 militants were “neutralized” in Çukurca since the beginning of the security operations, according to a statement released by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) on Sept. 5. At least 157 PKK militants were killed or wounded in the operations, as Turkish warplanes conducted airstrikes against PKK positions in the rural areas of Çukurca on Sept. 5. 

Six PKK targets were destroyed in two separate airstrikes. 

Again in Çukurca, the TSK seized a number of weapons, ammunition and other items from a shelter belonging to PKK militants. 

According to a statement released from the TSK, weapons, ammunition, food, clothes, fuel oil, a generator, an accumulator, objects used in bomb-making and medicine were seized from the shelter. The soldiers also found the dead bodies of militants, the TSK said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım visited the border command in Çukurca early on Sept. 5, as violence in the district has flared up recently, causing casualties on both sides to rise. 

“We are not on defense, but in an attack position. We will find and neutralize these despicable ones in every cave that they are in. If we don’t do it, then we will have to live with this threat,” Yıldırım told the soldiers, adding that a new road map in the struggle against terror was formed after the July 15 failed coup attempt. 
Saying that there were precautions to be taken, Yıldırım told the soldiers that the army would take control of the region and then “bring the despicable terrorist organization into line.” 

“There are 10 to 12 places where they are grouped together. We will enter those places and bring the despicable terrorist organization, which has been keeping Turkey occupied for years, into line. The people are praying for you. Thanks to you, the people are sleeping peacefully in their homes,” he also said. 

Yıldırım was accompanied on his visit by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli. 

Later on Sept. 5, Yıldırım participated in the funeral ceremony of soldiers killed in the Çaldıran district of the eastern province of Van. Eight soldiers were killed on Sept. 2 in clashes with PKK militants. 

The ceremony, which was held at 4:40 a.m., was closed to the public.