105 rocket launchers, 40 cartridges seized from PKK in Turkey’s Diyarbakır
DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency
Turkish security forces have seized 105 rocket launchers and 40 propelling cartridges belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Lice district.
Explosives and ammunition were also found in a separate operation on PKK stashes in the southeastern province of Siirt’s Eruh district. Turkish security forces have seized 105 rocket launchers and 40 propelling cartridges belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Lice district. Explosives and ammunition were also found in a separate operation on PKK stashes in the southeastern province of Siirt’s Eruh district.
The Diyarbakır Governor’s Office said in a statement on Oct. 8 that the weapons were found in the Kutlu village as part of an operation launched the previous day.
“As a result of a special unit operation, 105 rocket launchers, including 36 anti-tank and 69 anti-personnel weapons, as well as 40 propelling cartridges placed in three plastic jerry cans, were destroyed by the explosive ordnance disposal team in a safe manner at their spot,” the governor’s office stated.
Separately, in Siirt’s Eruh district, several explosives and ammunition, again belonging to the PKK, were seized in four shelters as part of an operation launched on Oct. 4 by the police special operations team and the 3rd Brigade Command Post.
“Thirty electrical fuses, 10 kilograms of TNT, eight hand-made explosive setups, one prepared radio setup to detonate explosives, 10 batteries, one solar panel, two cartridge belts, 50 kilograms of white beans, 50 kilograms of bulgur, 15 kilograms of tomato paste, 14 kilograms of cheese, 50 ready soup packages, five kilograms of onions, one pressure cooker, four thermos bottles, two sports shoes have also been seized,” the Siirt Governor’s Office said in a statement on Oct. 8.
Meanwhile, two state security guards were killed by the PKK militants in Diyarbakır late on Oct. 7, according to an official statement.
The Diyarbakır Governor’s Office stated that another security guard was wounded in the same operation, which saw gendarmerie forces working with security guards against PKK militants in the Silvan district.
One of the killed security guards, identified as İhsan Gür, set off a landmine or improvised explosive planted by PKK militants and died in the blast along with fellow security guard Cevat Bilgiç. The injured security guard has been identified as Murat Bartev, the statement added.
In a separate incident, security forces have apprehended two PKK militants at a checkpoint in Diyarbakır, said an official statement on Oct. 7.
According to the statement issued by the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office, one militant was female and two collaborators were also held during a road check carried out in the province’s Ergani district.
In addition, one Kalashnikov rifle with five chargers, 149 cartridges, and two hand grenades were also seized along with the militants.
Meanwhile, the governor’s office of the southeastern province of Tunceli announced on Oct. 7 that one of the PKK militants killed in an operation on July 20 was among the group that abducted and killed the teacher Necmettin Yılmaz, 23, earlier this summer.
“In the ballistic analysis undertaken on the seized weapons, it has been determined that one of the seized weapons was the Kalashnikov-type weapon that fired the cartridges obtained in the incident of the martyrdom of Necmettin Yılmaz,” the Tunceli Governor’s Office said.
Yılmaz, who was a teacher in the Çiftlikbaşı village of the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, was driving on a highway to the northwestern province of Gümüşhane’s Demirkapı village to visit his family when he was abducted by PKK militants on a road between the eastern provinces of Erzincan and Tunceli on June 16.
His dead body was found on July 12 by villagers in the Pülümür Valley in Tunceli. He was laid to rest on July 16 with a funeral ceremony attended by thousands of people.