PKK militants stage bomb attack on cargo train in Turkey’s southeast

DİYARBAKIR

Outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants have detonated explosives during the passage of a cargo train in the Bağıvar neighborhood of the Sur district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. 

The militants detonated the hand-made explosives they hid under the railway during the passage of the train, which is used for carrying crude oil from the southeastern province of Batman to Diyarbakır. Eight empty wagons were derailed after the explosion and no casualties were reported after the attack. 

A number of ambulances and police teams were dispatched to the scene after the incident, but the ambulances returned after it was established that no one was killed or wounded. 

An operation with aerial support was launched in order to apprehend the militants involved in the attack. 

Meanwhile, Gıyasettin Gür, a PKK militant code-named “Bawer Xebat,” was killed in Turkish air strikes carried out in the Zap region of northern Iraq on Feb. 19 and 20. 

Gür was arrested on April 13, 2007, while he was a student at Marmara University on charges of being a bombmaker for the PKK. He was released in September 2011 and went to the Kandil Mountains in northern Iraq, the base of the PKK’s operations.  

Elsewhere, specially trained marine amphibious brigades from the Foça district of the western province of İzmir have joined security operations in the southeastern province of Hakkari. Security forces recently conducted operations against the PKK in Çukurca, Yüksekova and Hisar Mountain near the border with northern Iraq. 

Security forces keep the PKK camps in the Avaşîn, Basyan and Zap regions of northern Iraq under surveillance around the clock. 

Special weaponry was given to security forces in the region, with Turkey’s domestic infantry rifle (MPT-76) being used in combat for the first time in the province.  

Furthermore, the Interior Ministry announced that a total of 36 PKK militants were “neutralized” in security operations in a week.         

Authorities use the word “neutralized” to refer to militants who are killed, wounded or captured.    
   
According to the ministry’s statement, a total of 18 militants were killed, two were wounded, four were captured alive and 12 others surrendered to security forces. In addition, 32 out of 321 suspects were detained on charges of aiding the PKK during the operations. 

During operations conducted in eight districts of eastern and southeastern Turkey, 26 shelters and 17 improvised explosive devices were destroyed. Some 210 kilograms of explosive materials along with 87 grenades and 42 weapons were also seized during the operations.