Three Turkish police officers killed in PKK attacks

ŞANLIURFA / TUNCELİ

A police bus has been targeted in an attack in Mardin's Kızıltepe distrcit. DHA photo

Three Turkish police officers were killed, 11 police officers and 14 civilians were injured late Aug. 28 in three separate attacks in the eastern province of Tunceli and the southeastern provinces of Şanlıurfa and Mardin by suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

In Şanlıurfa, unknown assailants opened fire on a police car leaving the emergency room of the Balıklıgöl State Hospital. Two police officers inside the car were severely injured, and they later died at the hospital despite all efforts of the doctors.

In the Nazimiye district of Tunceli, a group of suspected PKK militants attacked the police headquarters with heavy weapons and rocket launchers late Aug. 28. During the attack, three police officers were injured and two PKK militants were killed. One of the injured police officers succumbed to his injuries hours later. 

In the southeastern province of Mardin Kızıltepe district, the militants fired a rocket on a police shuttle carrying 25 officers. The rocket missed the bus and hit metal barrels in a shop on the street filled with diesel fuel. The explosion and the ensuing fire injured nine police officers and 14 civilians, while also damaging the surrounding buildings.

The tensions in the country’s southeast have been running high since the PKK started launching attacks on the security personnel and anti-terrorism operations were launched in July. 

According to a recent toll by the state-run Anadolu Agency, 918 PKK militants have been killed in ground operations and air strikes since July. Meanwhile, at least 60 members of the Turkish security forces have lost their lives in a cycle of violence that shows no sign of abating.