Two police officers die in rocket raid, curfew in Diyarbakır

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

Two police officers were killed and six were wounded in two separate attacks on Sept. 6 in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır. 

Two police officers, Mustafa Turanlı and Muzaffer Can Ersoy, who were both working for the police’s special forces unit, were killed and three others were injured early Sept. 6 during an armed action by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in response to continued operations by security personnel against the militant group’s youth wing in Diyarbakır.

Police forces conducted operations against members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of the PKK, early Sept. 6 in Diyarbakır’s central district of Sur to cover trenches which had been dug by locals to protect residents against attacks by security forces. 

Members of the YDG-H responded to the operations with rocket-propelled grenades, killing two police officers and wounding three others.

A number of people were detained as part of the operation, while citizens were warned not to leave their houses. Gunfire and the sounds of bombs were occasionally heard in the neighborhood.

The Diyarbakır Governor’s Office has declared a curfew in the district effective as of 9:30 a.m. Sept. 6, until further notice.

A couple of hours after the first attack, police were targeted by gunfire in Diyarbakır’s Fatihpaşa neighborhood at around 12:30 p.m.

Three police officers were injured in this attack, while four civilians were wounded and hospitalized. Two of the civilians were transported in ambulances, while the other two were transported in private vehicles.