Turkey – Kurds Conflict
Sun Dec 20, 2015 15:18:44
The number of Kurdish militants killed in a massive huge Turkish military offensive in the restive southeast has jumped to 102, a security source told AFP on Sunday, as the operation entered its fifth day.
At least two soldiers and five civilians have also been killed in the fighting, the source said.
An earlier toll released on Saturday put the figure at 70 dead in the unprecedented police and army operation, with the military saying all were suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Some 10,000 troops backed by tanks have been deployed in the southeast to try to rout young PKK supporters from urban areas, according to local media.
The operation, which has targeted the towns of Cizre and Silopi in the province of Sirnak as well as a neighborhood in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region, began on Wednesday, according to the army.
On Friday, the military also carried out airstrikes on alleged PKK hideouts and weapons sites across the border in northern Iraq, where the outlawed group has its rear bases.
Images published by the Anatolia news agency show heavily armed soldiers backed by tanks going house-to-house in the towns and firing from street corners.
Army forces chief General Hulusi Akar visited Sirnak province on Saturday for a briefing by the local military command.
The Turkish government says the operation is needed to eliminate militants who were effectively taking over the towns by building barricades and digging trenches.
But Kurdish activists and politicians have accused the army of acting with impunity and pounding large parts of the towns to rubble; AFP reported.
S/SH
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