Wave of Violence in South-Eastern Turkey Does not Abate

Three soldiers and nine members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed in an armed conflict in the gendarmerie area in the district of Şemdinli in the south-eastern province of Hakkari. Three soldiers were wounded and taken to the Hakkari Military Hospital.

Gunfire was opened on Monday evening (5 July) in the upper area of the Beyyurdu Gendarmerie Police Command 40 km away from Şemdinli in a region where military operations are being carried out. Fırat News Agency (ANF) furthermore announced that four soldiers were injured in attacks in Yüksekova, also on the south-eastern tip of the country close to the Iraqi border.

Two people wounded in Hakkari

A mine exploded when security forces opened fire in an area at the Harun mountain pass in the district of Şemdinli.

Two specialist sergeants were wounded in the explosion and underwent medical treatment in the Hakkari Military Prison. A military operation supported from the air was started in the region.

Task force attack in Elazığ: five people injured

Five soldiers were injured in a rifle attack by PKK members on a military task force in Gavurtepe in Arıcak/Bükardi in the south-eastern province of Elazığ.

As reported by ANF, six soldiers were wounded in the attack. Based on local sources the agency announced that none of the victims were PKK members.

On 3 July, the Press Communication Centre (BİM) of the People's Defence Forces (HPG), an armed wing of the PKK, declared that a total of 14 soldiers were killed in four different attacks of the organization in the district of Beytüşşebap in the province of Şırnak (south-eastern Anatolia). BİM announced the killed PKK members as follows:

Identities of the five killed PKK members

Hamit Tekbudak, codename Fikret Van: born in 1980 in Van, joined the organization in 1998.

İbrahim Başak, codename Zagros Urfa: born n 1983 in Urfa, joined the PKK in 2002.

Ali Cilo, codename Harun Şiyar: born in 1982 in Afrin (Kurdistan Regional Government), joined the organization in 1999.

Abdullah Hezer, codename Diyar Gafur: born 1982 in Şırnak, joined the organization in 2004.

Özgür Dağhan, codename Sipan Aras: born in Diyarbakır in 1983, joined the PKK in 2004. (EÖ)