6 Turkish Security Forces Killed in PKK Attack in Siirt Province

By Staff Writer On Mar 30, 2018

Turkish forces in the area of Siirt, where six soldiers were killed on March 30, 2018. Photo: Ilyas Akengin, AFP

Six Turkish security forces were killed on Friday after an attack by Kurdish militants in the southeastern province of Siirt in Turkey, the governor’s office said in a statement.

Three other village guards and four soldiers were wounded while they were providing safety during road construction,according to the statement. Those killed were also village guards — locals employed to combat Kurdish militants.

#BREAKING: Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters staged an attack at a military base in southeast #Turkey’s Siirt province, killing five Turkish soldiers and wounding seven, security sources said on Friday.#TwitterKurds pic.twitter.com/t7FBVHvLUC

— Kurdistan 24 English (@K24English) March 30, 2018

The governorate did not give further details on the attack but blamed the “separatist terrorist organisation” — Turkey’s official term for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The office said that a wide operation was underway to “neutralise the PKK terrorists who launched the attack.”

The PKK has been waging an insurgency in the southeast since 1984 and is proscribed as a terror organisation by Ankara and its Western allies. Fighting in the region intensified between Turkish security forces and the PKK after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in 2015.

PKK Siirt