Five security officials killed in PKK attack in Turkey’s southeast

MARDİN

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Five security officials, including two police chiefs and a major, have been killed in an attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Nusaybin district of the southeastern province of Mardin amid ongoing security operations. 

A chief of police, identified as Doğan Sakarya, was heavily wounded when PKK militants opened fire with Kanas-branded sniper rifles during an operation in Nusaybin’s Dicle neighborhood around 11:40 a.m. on April 7. The wounded officer was promptly taken to Nusaybin State Hospital but later succumbed to his injuries despite all medical attempts to save his life. 

Two other officials, identified as Chief of Police Zafer Kurt and Mjr. Ahmet Karaman, were also killed after PKK militants detonated an improvised explosive device at 1:45 p.m. as clashes continued in the neighborhood. 

Reports indicated two other security officials were killed in the operation and five others were wounded, although their identities have not been released yet. 

Initial reports from the region suggested PKK militants escaped through tunnels they had opened inside the walls of neighboring houses. 

Gendarmes and special operations police officers launched a joint operation to apprehend the fleeing militants. 

Meanwhile, as anti-terror operations rage across Turkey’s southeastern provinces, Turkish warplanes hit targets belonging to the PKK in northern Iraq on April 6, the Turkish General Staff announced early April 7. 

The air campaign was launched with four F-4 2020’s and six F-16’s between 4:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., the announcement said, adding that “national munitions” were used in the attack. 

“Six shelters and caves used by the PKK in the Zap region of the Kandil [Mountains] in northern Iraq were targeted and destroyed with a national munition NEB [penetrator bomb],” the statement said.  

Meanwhile, security authorities continued launching anti-PKK raids across Turkish provinces and arrested a militant suspected of planning to carry out a suicide attack. 

The woman, identified as, R.I., was arrested in the country’s capital after being detained by police during a regular traffic inspection at one of the entrances to the city in the Gölbaşı district.

The woman had been the subject of a nationwide search after digitally-stored data found on a PKK militant killed in Mardin identified her as a potential suicide attacker. It was not specified whether she had explosives on her when she was detained, but reports suggested she was designated as a suicide bomber by the PKK because she was suffering from a severe lung disease. 

She was placed under arrest by a criminal court in Ankara ahead of a trial, the date of which has yet to be set.

Two other long-sought PKK militants were apprehended on April 6 in the southeastern provinces of Şanlıurfa and Muş. 

Four suspected PKK militants were arrested in Şanlıurfa, including a suspected suicide bomber identified as Mehmet E. 

The governor’s office in Şanlıurfa released an official statement on the arrests and defined Mehmet E. as a leading member of the PKK/Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) nicknamed “Bahoz,” and argued the militant had the “organizational capability” to stage suicide bomb attacks on behalf of the outlawed organization. 

Meanwhile, a militant identified as Mehmet Hayme, who is on the Interior Ministry’s “wanted terrorists” list, was also detained in the Varto district of Muş alongside three other militants.