News / Turkey

Two Turkish policemen killed in PKK militant attacks

Sunday, 31 January 2016 7:40 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 31 January 2016 7:41 AM ]

The wife of slain Turkish police officer Musa Yuce expresses her grief above his flag-draped coffin during his funeral in the Sur district of Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, on January 4, 2016. ©AFP

At least two Turkish police officers have lost their lives when militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) launched two separate attacks in the country’s southeastern provinces of Sirnak and Diyarbakir.

PKK militants opened fire on village guard, Murat Sevim, near his home in the Ismetpasa neighborhood of the city of Sirnak, situated some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) east of the capital, Ankara, late on Saturday, critically wounding him, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported.

Sevim later succumbed to his grave gunshot wounds at Sirnak State Hospital.

Earlier in the day, a Turkish policeman was injured during a mop-up operation against PKK militants in the Sur district of Diyarbakir, situated 676 kilometers (420 miles) east of Ankara.

Four PKK militants were also killed in the same counter-terrorism offensive.

The developments came a day after a Turkish soldier was killed during clashes with PKK militants in the town of Cizre, located about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital, the Turkish General Staff announced in a statement.

A man sits in the ruins of a house damaged in the fighting between government troops and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the Kurdish town of Silopi, southeastern Turkey, on January 19, 2016. ©AFP

Another soldier died in the Sur district of Diyarbakir.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against the positions of the group in northern Iraq.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accused the government in Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.

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