Two Turkish soldiers killed in still tense southeast

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

AA photo

Two soldiers have been killed in Turkey’s southeast, as tension continues to run high, while the number of civilians killed in the latest clashes in the nearby province of Şırnak has risen to four.

One soldier has been killed and four others have been injured after the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants opened fire at military personnel in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır, while the number of civilians killed in the latest clashes in the nearby province of Şırnak has risen to four.

Ökkeş Korkmaz, 23, was killed and four other soldiers were injured after PKK militants fired shots with long-barreled weapons and rockets at military personnel in Diyarbakır’s Lice district at 3:40 p.m. on Aug. 27. The injured soldiers were reported to be in a good condition.

Soldier dies in hospital

Specialized Sergeant Mustafa Kemal Özata, 23, who was injured in clashes in the southeastern province of Hakkari’s Yüksekova district on Aug. 14, succumbed to his injuries yesterday, at the GATA military hospital in Ankara where he was being treated. Meanwhile, the number of civilians killed in the latest clashes in Şırnak’s Cizre district on Aug. 27 rose to four after Emin Yanaş, a 10-year-old boy, died in hospital.

A curfew that took effect at 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 26 due to clashes between security forces and PKK militants in the Yüksekova district of the southeastern province of Hakkari was lifted following an anti-terror operation in which 20 PKK militants were killed. 

In a separate incident in the eastern province of Muş, two gendarmerie sergeants were killed and another was injured in a crash on a road connecting Muş to the neighboring province of Bingöl at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 27.