“The number of PKK militants killed during the period of the curfew is estimated to be around 40,” Su said in a press briefing held in coordination with Şırnak Police Department Head Celal Sel and Şırnak Gendarmerie Command Head Sami Özturan on Sept. 17.
He added that 17 suspected militants had been detained in operations during the curfew between Sept. 4 and 11.
Su said 25 police officers were injured in security operations during the eight-day curfew and seven guarded police vehicles were damaged as militants carried out attacks with 21 rockets, 19 hand grenades, and two road-side bombings.
As many as 1,150 kilograms of explosives and 39 explosive devices were eliminated during the operations, while 45 trenches and barricades were destroyed and long-range rifles and ammunition were seized, Su added.
The governor said most of the operations targeted militants in Cizre’s Nur neighborhood, and pre-operation assessments estimated that operations would have to continue for seven to ten days because of the presence of civilians used as human shields.
“The curfew was announced not only for the Nur neighborhood, but across all of Cizre,” he said.
Su said the curfew had been put into effect as a “preventive measure” amid terrorist acts, bombings and demonstrations across Cizre.
Despite reports to the contrary from inside Cizre, he claimed that maximum efforts had been made to ensure the continuity of health, nutrition and electricity services in the town.
From the beginning of the curfew until Sept. 11, locals in Cizre made 251 emergency calls, Su also said, adding that health service personnel could not reach 68 of these cases due to security conditions.
Twenty-seven of the 251 calls were cases of injury, he added.
hurriyetdailynews.com
17/9/15
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A commander of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) ruled out a unilateral cease-fire Thursday and accused the Turkish government of pursuing war to gain more votes...
ReplyDeleteHundreds have been killed in almost daily bloody clashes between the PKK and security forces in the largely Kurdish southeast since a long-standing ceasefire and peace overtures fell apart in July.
With an election looming in six weeks, Ankara says the militants must put down their weapons and return to their camps in northern Iraq before it will halt operations and restart peace talks.
"A ceasefire can only be mutual," PKK field commander Murat Karayilan told the Firat news agency, which is close to the group, in an interview. "Our experience teaches us that positive outcomes cannot be achieved through unilateral cease-fires."
On Wednesday, a Kurdish militant umbrella group said it was ready for talks supervised by a third party. Karayilan is based in the remote mountains of northern Iraq, from where he directs the PKK insurgency against Turkey.
The PKK launched a separatist armed struggle in 1984 before moderating its goal to improving the rights of Turkey's roughly 12 million Kurds............REUTERS