PKK sets truck on fire, kidnaps driver

Hakkâri - Doğan News Agency

Members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members set a pickup truck on fire in the southeastern province of Hakkari’s Şemdinli district on July 22. The truck was rendered unusable and the whereabouts of its driver are unknown.

The truck was being used at a road construction site in the Mehende area between the villages of Beyurdu and Aktütün, 40 kilometers from Şemdinli. The truck burst into flames and was rendered unusable. No news has been received from its driver. Security forces have launched an operation in the region to render the PKK members ineffective and locate the truck driver, who is believed to have been kidnapped by the PKK members.

Meanwhile, in the southeastern province of Siirt’s Pervari district, a mine laid on a forest road near the village of Palamutlu

by the PKK exploded while a tractor carrying villagers and driven by Doğustan Bayram, 22, was passing by on July 21. One person, Selahattin Yıldırım, 33, was injured in the blast and taken to Siirt State Hospital.

The Siirt Governor’s Office said an operation supported by the Air Force had been launched in the region “to neutralize the members of the outlawed PKK.”