Turkey kills 12 PKK members in co-ordinated attacks

Armed Turkish police have reported seizing large quantities of bomb-making chemicals and weapons during a number of raids on suspected Kurdish militant homes.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

07 November, 2016

Armed police forces stormed four positions and made only one arrest [Anadolu]

Turkey's security forces reportedly killed 12 suspected Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK] militants over the past 24 hours.

Numerous reports have emerged of co-ordinated strikes across the country, aimed at suspected armed cells of the Kurdish group.

"Security forces killed six terrorists from the PKK near Mount Judi and two others near Bastelar. Another was arrested during on-going operations," a spokesperson for Sirnak Province said in a statement.

"Turkish troops seized a large cache of arms and ammunition as part of the raids in Sirnak, including 535kg of ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make bombs, and digital materials belonging to terrorist organizations."

A statement from the Bitlis state government said that armed police killed an alleged PKK member near Hizan in a separate operation against the organization.

Security forces reported three people were killed in a drone strike near Mount Hisar in Hakkari province. Inspectors claim to have seized three amunitions caches in the same area.

There has been a renewed crack-down on Kurdish elements in Turkey recently, following a recent spate of PKK attacks across Turkey.

Two leaders of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) were jailed on Friday, sparking a European backlash over the perceived "threat to democracy".

A peace agreement between the Turkish government and the PKK broke down in July 2015, after the effects of the Syrian civil war spilled over into Turkey’s Kurdish region.