Two security personnel killed, nine others injured in PKK attacks in southeast

ŞIRNAK – Doğan News Agency

A military convoy in the Şırnak province is seen in this Sept. 23 photo. DHA

Two soldiers and 34 militants were killed in two separate attacks and a military operation in southeastern Turkey late on Sept. 24 and early on Sept. 25, the Turkish Armed Forces has announced.

The Chief of General Staff said in a written statement on Sept. 25 that two soldiers were killed in the two attacks late on Sept. 24 and early on Sept. 25, each conducted by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the Beytüşşebap district of the southeastern province of Şırnak. 

Eight soldiers and a village guard were also injured in the attacks that started at 11 p.m. Sept. 24 and 5:40 a.m. Sept. 25, the statement said, adding that all those who were injured in the attacks were being treated in the Şırnak Public Hospital.

“We send our condolences to members of the Turkish Armed Forces and our nation, as well as to the families and relatives of our martyrs, whose deaths in these atrocious attacks have put us in deep sorrow,” the statement said.

A counterstrike by the Turkish army caused “significant casualties” among the militants, it added. 

“Subsequently, 34 militants were killed and their arms and equipment were seized through coordinated operations conducted by our specialized troops supported by unmanned aerial vehicles, air forces and helicopters,” the statement said.

Nearly all communication channels were reportedly blocked amid the Sept. 24 clashes in Beytüşşebap, with electricity, telephone lines and Internet cut off in the district. 

Meanwhile, four PKK militants who carried out two bomb attacks that killed two police officers in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa on Aug. 28 were arrested.

In a police operation in Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district on Sept. 23, the four were arrested for killing the police officers Tanju Sakarya and Fatih Kılbey on Aug. 28, outside a public hospital in central Şanlıurfa.

The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union, renewed its armed campaign two months ago following the July 20 bombing in Suruç, in which a suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suicide bomber left dozens dead and more than 100 injured in the southeastern border town.

Since July 20, more than 120 security personnel have been killed in PKK offensives. Dozens of PKK militants have been reported killed in ground and air operations launched by Turkish military.