Terror attacks cost lives of more innocent people in Turkey
The Turkish government prepares to ramp up its anti-terror fight asfour new deaths in the southeast bring terror toll to 37 since Aug 17.
Shifting away from overtures toward an outlawed terrorist group, Ankara is planning to increase military pressure and tighten control over transit routes into Turkey.
Four more people were killed in attacks in the southeast, while a group affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility for a deadly bomb blast Tuesday in Ankara.
The country goes through a wave of terror as two gun attacks by the militants of the outlawed PKK on Thursday resulted in four deaths. The attacks came two days after a deadly bomb attack in Ankara, claimed by a pro-Kurdish group.
Police officers investigate a crime scene in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır where a police officer was killed and another one was injured on Thursday in a gun attack by the members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
our more people have been killed in separate attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, while a group affiliated with the organization has claimed responsibility for the deadly bomb attack in Ankara.
The Fırat news agency, which is known to have close links to the PKK, reported on Thursday that the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bomb attack in central Ankara that resulted in three deaths and 34 injuries.
An e-mail addressed to the pro-Kurdish agency and signed by TAK claimed the attack “is a beginning.”
“As we warned earlier, we have no sensitivity as a group. Everywhere is an operation zone and everywhere is a target,” the e-mail read.
A powerful bomb rocked the center of the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday, killing three civilians and wounding 34 others. The PKK on Wednesday denied any links with the attack.
TAK put the blame for future attacks on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the government is “far from understanding the seriousness of the situation,” and threatened to “carry the war to the metropolises,” according to the Fırat news report.
The statement by the terror group came hours after suspected PKK militants carried out more attacks in the country’s southeast.
Two village guards and one soldier were killed Wednesday night in the southeastern province of Van in clashes with the PKK militants while one police officer was killed and another was injured on Thursday in central Diyarbakır.
Two civilians injured
The two police officers attacked in the southeastern province, who were members of a motorized unit, were at a local mechanics shop having their motorcycle repaired, the Doğan news agency reported. The owner of the shop and one of his employees were also slightly injured in the attack.
Security forces acted quickly after the attack and detained two people allegedly linked to the deadly shooting, Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin told reporters Thursday. The minister also said a grenade and many bullets were found in a bag near the attacked shop.
Meanwhile, police officers on Thursday raided homes and offices in six cities including Istanbul and İzmir and detained 31 on accusations of having links to the alleged urban leg of the PKK.
The raids were against the suspected members of Kurdish Communities Union, or KCK, security forces said. Among the detainees are Emine Aslan, a provincial executive of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, and Ahmet Demiroğlu, a member of the BDP’s party assembly.
Members of the BDP protested the raids in İzmir.
MORE THAN 30 KILLED IN PKK ATTACKS SINCE AUG 17
Aug 17: PKK, militants attacked a military post in the Çukurca district of Hakkari, killing 12 soldiers and wounding 11 others. The Turkish Armed Forces, or TSK, launched a major air operation to strike PKK hideouts in northern Iraq after the attack.
Aug 18: Two soldiers were killed and seven people, including four civilians, were injured in simultaneous attacks in the Pervari and Eruh districts of the eastern province of Siirt. One PKK militant was captured and two others were killed in the clashes.
Aug 23: One soldier was killed and four others injured in a PKK attack on a military checkpoint near Değirmendere village in Diyarbakır.
Aug 27: One village guard was killed and four others injured in an ambush by PKK militants in the Midyat district of Mardin.
Aug 28: Ten people were slightly injured when a small bomb exploded on a beach in the Mediterranean resort town of Kemer.
Aug 28: Three soldiers were killed and three injured when a military vehicle hit a land mine in the Şemdinli district of the southeastern province of Hakkari. Hakkari Gov. Muammer Türker said two PKK militants trying to lay land mines near the Yüksekova district were killed in clashes.
Sept 3: Two members of the Turkish military’s special forces were killed in Tunceli in clashes with PKK militants.
Sept 4: A police officer and his wife were killed when PKK militants attacked a football field in Tunceli while a group of police officers were playing.
Sept 11: PKK militants attacked the gendarmerie headquarters and a police building in the Şemdinli district of Şırnak. The three-hour clash resulted in the deaths of one soldier, one police officer and three civilians.
Sept 16: One soldier was killed and two others injured in clashes with PKK militants near the Genç district of Bingöl while another soldier was killed by a land mine explosion in Başkale district of Van.
Sept 20: Three civilians were killed and 34 others injured when a car bomb exploded in central Ankara.
Sept 20: Four women were killed when a PKK group attacked a civilian car near the police academy in Siirt. Also, a police cadet was killed when PKK militants opened fire on a police academy in Bitlis.
Sept 21: Two village guards and one soldier were killed in clashes with PKK militants in the Çatak district of Van.
Sept 22: One police officer was killed when PKK militants attacked a mechanics shop in central Diyarbakır.
September 22, 2011
SOURCE: HURRIYET DAILY NEWS
