PKK terrorists killed in eastern Turkey
The Turkish Armed Forces have released details of a 40-day air and land operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) mountain bases in the southeastern province of Hakkari.
According to local army sources, the sweeping operation – named after Staff Lt. Col. İlker Çelikcan – was launched on September 27 and was brought to a conclusion on November 5.
Military sources claimed that, since after start of talks two years ago, the PKK had “dug the mountains with drilling machines and placed Russian-made DShK anti-aircraft guns, creating several shelters and positions for them”.
The area is of strategic importance as Daglica village is the sole access point in the region, and Oramar Hill is a fortified place overlooking the Daglica Border Battalion, Keri Hill and Pey Hill Border Posts.
Several IED bombs planted on the roads as well as materials and chemicals used in their fabrication were seized during the air and land operations, according to AA.
Meanwhile, one Turkish soldier was killed Saturday in a mine attack in the Kurdish province of Sirnak which authorities blamed on the PKK.
Hurriyet Daily News quoted a military statement as saying 11 PKK militants were killed during operations in the Hakkari and Şemdinli districts of the Hakkari province, while another two were “neutralized” in the Şırnak and Diyarbakır provinces.
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) won back a parliamentary majority in the November 1 election in a major victory for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has pledged to continue battling the PKK until every last fighter is “liquidated” after a two-year cease-fire that he had championed collapsed in July. While the United States, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally of Turkey, considers the PKK to be a terrorist organization, a US-led coalition has supported the YPG as a major ground element against IS forces in Syria.