Turkey hits PKK, soldiers laid to rest

ISTANBUL

DHA photo

Turkish warplanes struck 24 targets in a bombardment of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the southeastern province of Hakkari late Sept. 29, a day after three security personnel and one civilian were killed in attacks. 

The targets destroyed in the border towns of Yüksekova and Dağlıca were mainly weapons depots and shelters, the Turkish army said in a statement on Sept. 30.

On Sept. 29, Specialist Cpl. Yunus Arda and Specialist Sgt. İzzet Taşbaş were killed after PKK members detonated an explosive in Hakkari.

The Turkish army was conducting an operation to defuse an improvised explosive device placed on Hakkari’s Tuhi Bridge located on the Yüksekova-Şemdinli highway at around 4:45 p.m. on Sept. 29.

An armored car dispatched to the area to secure the bomb squad was hit when an explosive planted under the bridge was detonated as the army vehicle was passing. 

Arda and Taşbaş were killed in the attack while three others were injured. Arda was laid to rest in the Aziziye district of the eastern province of Erzurum on Sept. 30, while the body of Taşbaş was brought to the Aegean province of Afyonkarahisar on Sept. 30. 

“Our injured fellow soldiers were immediately taken to hospital and received medical treatment,” read a statement from the military, adding that an air-backed operation was under way in the region.

In a separate attack in the eastern province of Batman, a police officer and a truck driver were killed in a PKK bomb attack on Sept. 29. Three officers and five civilians were also injured in the attack.

The militants detonated an explosive as a police vehicle was proceeding along the Batman-Kozluk highway.

Police officer Nedim Erbay and truck driver Hamdullah Aydın, 55, were killed in the attack. Erbay’s body was brought to the Kula district of the Aegean province of Muğla on Sept. 30 for a funeral.

The road was closed to traffic while security forces launched an operation to apprehend the perpetrators.