Five killed as PKK continues its attacks in Turkey

ŞIRNAK – Anadolu Agency

DHA photo

Five people, including a soldier, were killed while one police officer was seriously injured in attacks launched by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In the southeastern province of Şırnak's Silopi district, police attempted to detain people, prompting resistance from neighborhood residents that included reported members of the youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Three people died in ensuing clashes.

Another armed conflict erupted when alleged members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of the PKK, fought back with long-barreled weapons and rockets at police officers who had arrived at an YDG-H trench off of Nusaybin Avenue in Şırnak’s Cizre district at around 12:30 a.m. on Aug 7.

The police responded with fire while an injured officer was taken to the Cizre Public Hospital for treatment. 



PKK militants also launched an attack on a highway in the eastern province of Ağrı's Doğubayazıt district, killing a Turkish special sergeant. An Iranian PKK militant was also killed in the ensuing clash, Anadolu Agency reported.

Over the past three weeks, Turkey has been struck by a series of violent attacks against its security forces, leaving scores of people dead and injured.

In the Uludere district of Şırnak, a civilian was injured after PKK militants fired shots with long-barreled weapons and rockets at the Uludere District Governor’s Office, the Uludere District Police Department and the Uludere District Gendarmerie Command around 11 p.m. on Aug 6.

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Şırnak deputy Ferhat Encü was trapped inside the governor’s office building at the time due to a 10-minute-long exchange of fire between gendarmerie forces and PKK militants.

PKK attacks gendarmerie station with car bomb

In the eastern province of Van, members of the PKK fired shots with long-barreled weapons and rockets at a gendarmerie station in Van’s Başkale district at around 9:15 p.m. on Aug 6, with no casualties reported. 

The militants detonated a car bomb, crashing it into a military vehicle after clashes erupted, while soldiers responded with fire during the shootout. 

Near the Beytüşşebap district of Şırnak, PKK militants hijacked a minibus carrying food supplies to gendarmerie forces, blocking off a road that leads out to Kato Mountain at around 2 p.m. on Aug 6.

In the southeastern province of Mardin, members of the YDG-H fired shots with long-barreled weapons at police officers in Mardin’s Nusaybin district on Aug 6, with no casualties reported. The police fired tear gas to disperse the militants.