Civilian-dressed soldier killed while walking to work in PKK attack

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

Cihan Photo

A specialized sergeant in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Silvan district was killed by members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as he was walking to work in civilian dress on Sept. 23.

PKK militants opened fire on 25-year-old Mehmet Ali Sarak, a specialized sergeant, early Sept. 23, as he was walking to the gendarmerie regimental command where he is stationed in Silvan. 

Sarak was wearing civilian clothes when the perpetrators attacked him with automatic rifles in the district’s Cami neighborhood. 

Sarak died at the scene and the PKK militants fled. Sarak’s body was taken to the Silvan State Hospital for an autopsy, and an operation was launched into finding the attackers.

Meanwhile, one civilian died and another was wounded after alleged PKK members launched an attack on a house in the southeastern province of Mardin’s Ömerli district on Sept. 22, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. 

Mahmut Kanat, 50, and his son Ali Kanat, were wounded after alleged PKK militants opened fire on their house in the Ovabaşı neighborhood of Ömerli. Father Kanat succumbed to his injuries at the hospital, while his son was being treated for his wounds.

An operation has been launched to catch the perpetrators.