Mine assault on police vehicle near Diyarbakır

ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires

A roadside mine exploded on Aug 13 during the passage of military convoy which was heading to Hakkari’s Şemdinli district. No casualties reported. DHA photo

A mine laid on a road was detonated as an armored police vehicle passed by in the Hani district of the southern city of Diyarbakır today. No one was killed or injured in the incident. The explosion created a two-meter-wide hole in the road, Diyarbakır Governor Mustafa Toprak said. “Another hidden mine was also found in the road. Our teams are working to defuse it,” Toprak said.

Aug 15 anniversary

The assault came on the anniversary of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) first armed attack. The PKK launched its first armed insurgency on Aug. 15, 1984, in armed attacks on Eruh and Şemdinli, with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state in the southeast of Turkey. More than 40,000 people have been killed in fighting between the Turkish Armed Forces and the PKK since then. Most of the remaining 4,000 PKK members are based in the mountains of neighboring northern Iraq, from where they have launched attacks on Turkish targets. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. On Aug. 14, security forces conducted operations as a precaution against possible Aug. 15 demonstrations. A total of 26 people were taken into custody in the southeastern provinces of Hakkari and Osmaniye.