Turkey ends anti-PKK operation in southeastern town

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has announced that military operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants have ended in one mainly Kurdish southeastern town. The military is still fighting militants linked to PKK, in two other urban areas.

Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters during a visit to London that the operation in Silopi, near the border with Iraq, has ended "successfully," that a 24-hour curfew has now been eased and reconstruction efforts would soon begin.

The security forces launched large-scale operations in Silopi, in the nearby town of Cizre and in Diyarbakır's historic Sur neighborhood to root out militants who set up barricades, dug trenches and primed explosives to keep authorities away. A Turkish human rights group said as many as 162 civilians have died caught up in the fighting since August - 26 of them in Silopi. The military says it has killed 136 militants in the town since the operations there began.

"There may be sporadic incidents, but all of the ditches (in Silopi) have been closed up, all of the barricades have been lifted," Davutoğlu said...AP.....http://www.todayszaman.com/national_turkey-ends-anti-pkk-operation-in-southeastern-town_409994.html
19/1/16
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