Turkey: 11 security personnel injured in PKK attacks

By Yilmaz Kazandioglu, Ekrem Payan

HAKKARI/SIRNAK, Turkey

Two security personnel in southeastern Turkey martyred Sunday in three separate PKK terror attacks, according to military sources.

One soldier was martyred during a security operation against the PKK terrorist group in a rural area of southeastern Bingol province, said a source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Village guards in a rural area of the Hakkari province who were sweeping for mines and bombs came under heavy gunfire from an undetermined number of PKK terrorists, the source said.

Three guards were injured in the attack, one critically, said the source.

Six soldiers were injured when members of the terror group taking shelter in northern Iraq attacked using mortar shells a Turkish military base near the border region.

The source said wounded personnel taken to Hakkari State Hospital and Turkish Air Forces began an operation in the region.

In a third incident, one village guard was martyred and one wounded during an operation against the PKK in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sirnak, according to a military source.

Clashes occurred in the rural area of Anilmis Village in the Cudi Mountain region, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The guard died at the Sirnak State Hospital where he was taken along with the other guard.

The air-backed operation in the region is still ongoing, the source added.

More than 1,200 people, including security personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK resumed its armed terrorist campaign in July 2015.