Turkey mourns victims of PKK attacks
HAKKARİ
DHA photo
Turkey was again in mourning for the victims of attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on Oct. 10, as the funerals of the fallen soldiers and civilians took place in provinces across the country.A PKK suicide bomb attack targeting a military road checkpoint in the Şemdinli district of the eastern province of Hakkari killed 10 soldiers and five civilians, according to the Hakkari Governor’s Office, which revised the previous civilian death toll to five.
The governor’s office stated that Infantry Lt. Ömer Baydıllı, Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Mustafa Bodur, Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Ertan Bayraktar, Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Bayram Aksu, Gendarmerie Pvt. Evren Kara, Gendarmerie Pvt. Eyüp Hacıoğlu, Gendarmerie Pvt. Erkan Özdemir, Gendarmerie Pvt. Latif Aşik Muslu, Infantry Pvt. Hasan Aydoğdu and Infantry Pvt. Özkan Altınoku were killed in the attack.
It added that eight civilians had been killed in the suicide attack according to initial examinations, but the civilian death toll had been revised down to five, including an Iranian citizen, after scanning hospital records.
The statement said Iranian citizen Shemsettin Resai, born in 1966; Bahri Fırat, born in 1987; Oğuz Uysal, born in 1992; Sinan Erbaş, born in 2000; and Selami Çevik, born in 1985, were killed in the attack.
The treatment of eight soldiers and 12 civilians is continuing, with one in a critical condition, in hospitals in Hakkari and the eastern province of Van.
Five soldiers and one civilian have been discharged from hospital, it added.
Earlier, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım had stated that 10 soldiers and eight civilians were killed in the attack in which a PKK bomber blew himself up inside a bomb-laden pickup that drove into the Durak gendarmerie road checkpoint in the district.
Meanwhile, one soldier was killed and five others were wounded in an attack by PKK militants in the Silvan district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Oct. 10, Doğan News Agency has reported.
The clashes occurred while military units were preparing to conduct a military operation in Mount Kazan on the outskirts of the town of Silvan.
PKK militants attacked the security forces with long-barreled weapons and rocket launchers.
One of the six soldiers injured in the attack died while being taken to hospital. Five others were taken to hospitals in Diyarbakır.
An operation with aerial support was launched by security forces after the attack.
Elsewhere, Turkish warplanes had conducted airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq, hitting shelters and weapon-launching positions in the Zap region on Oct. 9.
Separately, nine areas in the southeastern province of Şırnak have been declared “temporary security zones” in order for the security forces to carry out operations against the PKK militants. The practice will last for a total of 15 days, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Oct. 10.
The governor’s office stated that Infantry Lt. Ömer Baydıllı, Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Mustafa Bodur, Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Ertan Bayraktar, Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Bayram Aksu, Gendarmerie Pvt. Evren Kara, Gendarmerie Pvt. Eyüp Hacıoğlu, Gendarmerie Pvt. Erkan Özdemir, Gendarmerie Pvt. Latif Aşik Muslu, Infantry Pvt. Hasan Aydoğdu and Infantry Pvt. Özkan Altınoku were killed in the attack.
It added that eight civilians had been killed in the suicide attack according to initial examinations, but the civilian death toll had been revised down to five, including an Iranian citizen, after scanning hospital records.
The statement said Iranian citizen Shemsettin Resai, born in 1966; Bahri Fırat, born in 1987; Oğuz Uysal, born in 1992; Sinan Erbaş, born in 2000; and Selami Çevik, born in 1985, were killed in the attack.
The treatment of eight soldiers and 12 civilians is continuing, with one in a critical condition, in hospitals in Hakkari and the eastern province of Van.
Five soldiers and one civilian have been discharged from hospital, it added.
Earlier, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım had stated that 10 soldiers and eight civilians were killed in the attack in which a PKK bomber blew himself up inside a bomb-laden pickup that drove into the Durak gendarmerie road checkpoint in the district.
Meanwhile, one soldier was killed and five others were wounded in an attack by PKK militants in the Silvan district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Oct. 10, Doğan News Agency has reported.
The clashes occurred while military units were preparing to conduct a military operation in Mount Kazan on the outskirts of the town of Silvan.
PKK militants attacked the security forces with long-barreled weapons and rocket launchers.
One of the six soldiers injured in the attack died while being taken to hospital. Five others were taken to hospitals in Diyarbakır.
An operation with aerial support was launched by security forces after the attack.
Elsewhere, Turkish warplanes had conducted airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq, hitting shelters and weapon-launching positions in the Zap region on Oct. 9.
Separately, nine areas in the southeastern province of Şırnak have been declared “temporary security zones” in order for the security forces to carry out operations against the PKK militants. The practice will last for a total of 15 days, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Oct. 10.