One soldier injured in gun attack in Turkey’s east

ERZURUM – Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

A non-commissioned officer has been injured in a gun attack in the eastern province of Erzurum, as local conflicts with Kurdish militants continued to engulf the country’s east.

Nazım Altun was attacked by suspected outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the Horasan district as he was heading to a military compound with his car. 

Altun was attacked as he stepped out of his car after it broke down on the way to the base in a similar attack that killed a Turkish major in the eastern province of Muş on July 27.

Altun responded to the gunfire but sustained injuries in the fight. He was taken to a local hospital before being transferred to Erzurum by ambulance helicopter. 

A wide-scale operation has been launched to apprehend the PKK militants.

Meanwhile, in the early hours of the morning, two armored police cars were attacked on the Bitlis-Tatvan motorway, but no casualties were reported. The injured assailants reportedly fled the scene.

On July 28, unknown assailants attacked police officers in the Cizre district of Şırnak with improvised explosives, injuring one officer and two children.

In a separate attack late at night, assailants targeted lodging buildings where judicial personnel and police officers reside in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari, but no casualties were reported.

A group of PKK militants also detained a police officer traveling with his car from Erzurum to Diyarbakır in the Lice district on July 28, allowing his other family members to go free.