30 December 2015•Update: 30 December 2015
MARDIN, Turkey
More than 30 PKK terrorists have been killed by Turkish security forces in the southern province of Mardin in nearly three weeks, local officials said Thursday.
In a statement, the provincial governor’s office said 32 PKK members were killed since a curfew was imposed on the town of Dargecit on Dec. 11.
“32 terrorists were neutralized, four terrorists captured dead, three terrorists captured injured and 10 people were arrested on charges of ‘being a member of an armed terror organization’,” the statement said.
The curfew, which saw security forces seal off the town, was lifted on Wednesday.
During that time, the PKK carried out 41 rocket-propelled grenade attacks, damaging seven armored vehicles, the governorate said.
“Four policemen were injured and two injured civilians lost their lives,” the statement added.
Security forces seized 2,000 kilograms of explosives, seven Kalashnikov assault rifles, two M16 assault rifles, a sniper rifle, a Russian-made PK machine gun, five shotguns, 26 other long-barreled weapons, three rocket-propelled grenades, 30 hand grenades and a number of improvised explosive devices.
The governorate thanked local residents for their “patience and common sense” during the operation.
Curfews in towns and cities across Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast have become a regular feature since the conflict was reignited in the aftermath of the July 20 Suruc bombing in which a Daesh suicide bomber killed 32 Kurdish activists.
Since then, more than 200 members of the Turkish security forces have been martyred while around 1,700 PKK members have been killed. More than 40,000 people have been killed since the Kurdish conflict began in 1984.
