Soldiers wounded in grenade attack in southeast Turkey

By Haydar Toprakci, Yilmaz Kazandioglu, Zafer Tayfur and Mesut Karaduman

ANKARA

Three soldiers were injured in a grenade attack by PKK terrorists in southeast Turkey on Tuesday, a local official said.

The soldiers were wounded by rocket-propelled grenades in Cukurca, a mountainous area near the Iraqi border, the Hakkari provincial governor’s office said in a statement.

They are currently being treated in Hakkari State Hospital.

Elsewhere, a security official said two PKK terrorists were killed during an ongoing operation in Baskale, a town in the eastern province of Van.

Speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, the official said the counter-terrorism operation was launched Monday after two soldiers were injured in a gun battle in the town.

In Tunceli province, eastern Turkey, the governor’s office said in a statement that a PKK terrorist was shot dead in the village of Kizilmescit on Monday night during a counter-terrorism operation.

To the west of Istanbul, five suspected PKK members were arrested as they attempted to leave Turkey, another security official said under the same condition of anonymity.

Gendarmes arrested the suspects at a highway stop in Inecik, a village in Tekirdag province on the E84 leading to Greece, on Tuesday, the official said.

Since the PKK launched its terror campaign in 1984, an estimated 40,000 people in Turkey have been killed.

Following a fragile cease-fire, the group resumed fighting in July 2015, since when it has been responsible for the deaths of around 1,200 security personnel and civilians.