28 April 2017•Update: 29 April 2017
ANKARA
Eleven PKK/PYD terrorists were killed by Turkish artillery after a mortar attack on a southern border post, the military said Friday.
The army post in Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, was targeted by mortar fire from Syria late Thursday, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement.
No soldiers were killed or wounded in the mortar attack.
The statement said Turkey responded with a heavy artillery bombardment that killed a three-man PKK/PYD mortar team as well as eight terrorists manning a vehicle-fixed heavy machine gun.
In a separate incident Thursday afternoon, a frontier post at Akcakale, around 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Ceylanpinar, was attacked from Syria.
The military said seven PKK/PYD members were killed in response by Turkish artillery. A heavy machine gun was also captured, the statement added. Again, there were no Turkish casualties.
The PKK/PYD is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU.
Since the PKK launched its terror campaign in 1984, an estimated 40,000 people have been killed in Turkey in related violence.
Following a fragile cease-fire, the group resumed fighting in July 2015, since when it has been responsible for the deaths of approximately 1,200 security personnel and civilians, according to an official tally.
Reporting by Kemal Karadag; Writing by Meryem Goktas
