PKK attack kills seven in Turkey’s southeast

DİYARBAKIR

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Five police officers and two civilians, including a child, were killed in an attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Aug. 15. 

Another 21 were wounded in the attack on a traffic police station at around 1:10 p.m.

The militants staged their attacks on the Murat Uçar Regional Traffic Inspection Station with a bomb-laden truck in the Şükürlü village located between the Çınar and the Bismil districts, Doğan News Agency reported. 

A statement was released by the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office regarding the attack, saying police officers were among the wounded. The child who was killed in the attack was the child of a police officer who was heavily wounded and was receiving treatment at hospital.

The station was heavily damaged despite a wall that was built around it when PKK militants attacked it eight years ago with automatic weapons.

Two nearby gas stations also suffered damage due to the blast, while the windows of plenty of vehicles around the building were broken. 

Police blocked entrance to the road leading to the police station, prompting a major traffic jam. The blast also created a hole measuring 10 meters wide and five meters deep in the road.

Police teams and ambulances were sent to the scene of the attack by air and from the ground. 

Clashes reportedly erupted between the militants and the security forces after the attack. 

An operation has been launched to apprehend the militants responsible for the attack.

Efforts to remove debris from the area with heavy machinery were ongoing. 

A broadcast ban was imposed regarding the attack by the Diyarbakır Second Court of Peace.

The leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) condemned the attack, while also wishing a speedy recovery for those wounded. 

“I condemn the attacks on our unity in the times where we need to be closer to each other,” Kılıçdaroğlu wrote on his Twitter account. 

Meanwhile, a total of 37 people were detained in an operation against the PKK in Diyarbakır’s Ergani, Lice and Hani districts, Anadolu Agency reported on Aug. 15. 

Operations against the PKK have been continuing for five days, with a total of 161 people suspected of being members of the outlawed group being detained, including a Democratic Unity Party (DBP) member.

People suspected to have connections with the outlawed Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) were also detained.

Diyarbakır police have been on high alert due to expectations that PKK militants would carry out an attack on Aug. 15, as the date marks the 32nd anniversary of the PKK’s first armed attack in Siirt’s Eruh district in 1984.