40 Pkk Militants Killed In Cizre During Eight-Day Curfew: Governor

- Around 40 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants were killed during the eight-day curfew in the Cizre district of the southeastern province of Şırnak, Şırnak Governor Ali İhsan Su has said, on Sep. 17.

“The number of PKK militants killed during the period of the curfew is estimated to be around 40” Su said in a press briefing held in coordination with Şırnak Police Department Head Celal Sel and Şırnak Gendarmerie Command Head Sami Özturan on Sept. 17.

He added that 17 suspected militants had been detained in operations during the curfew between Sept. 4 and 11.

Su said 25 police officers were injured in security operations during the eight-day curfew and seven guarded police vehicles were damaged as militants carried out attacks with 21 rockets, 19 hand grenades, and two road-side bombings.

As many as 1,150 kilograms of explosives and 39 explosive devices were eliminated during the operations, while 45 trenches and barricades were destroyed and long-range rifles and ammunition were seized, Su added.

The governor said most of the operations targeted militants in Cizre’s Nur neighborhood, and pre-operation assessments estimated that operations would have to continue for seven to ten days because of the presence of civilians used as human shields.

“The curfew was announced not only for the Nur neighborhood, but across all of Cizre,” he said.

Su said the curfew had been put into effect as a “preventive measure” amid terrorist acts, bombings and demonstrations across Cizre.

Despite reports to the contrary from inside Cizre, he claimed that maximum efforts had been made to ensure the continuity of health, nutrition and electricity services in the town.

From the beginning of the curfew until Sept. 11, locals in Cizre made 251 emergency calls, Su also said, adding that health service personnel could not reach 68 of these cases due to security conditions.

Twenty-seven of the 251 calls were cases of injury, he added.