No news from seven customs officials for almost two days in Turkey’s southeast

HAKKARİ

DHA photo

Seven customs officials have not been heard from since early Aug. 10 in the southeastern Turkish province of Hakkari.

The officials, who had been temporarily appointed to the recently opened Üzümlü Border Gate with Iraq, in Hakkari’s Çukurca district, have not been contacted since traveling to the area. 

They had got onto a minibus to reach the gate from Hakkari’s Yüksekova district early on Aug. 10, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. 

Other customs officials tried unsuccessfully to reach their seven co-workers by phone after determining that they had not reached their workplace, but to no avail. They then informed the district governorate about the incident. 

An investigation has been launched into the whereabouts of the missing customs officials, and it is now speculated that they may have been abducted by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

No official announcement about the incident had been made when the Hürriyet Daily News went to press. 

This news came a day after six security officials, five policemen and one soldier were killed in terror attacks in Istanbul and the southeastern province of Şırnak in three separate attacks. 

The number of killed security forces over the past month rose to 33 with the killing of a soldier at the Akdizgin military base in Şırnak early on Aug. 11, after PKK members opened fire on the base and wounded 21-year-old private Barış Aytek, who succumbed to his injuries at hospital.