Interior Minister Efkan Ala said sweeping operations by security forces against PKK in the town of Cizre were completed on Thursday.
“The entire operation has been successfully completed in Cizre, but a curfew will remain in place for a while to ensure security of our citizens when they return to their homes," Ala said in his remarks broadcast live on the state-run TRT channel.
Ala said search operations will continue in Cizre, which was the scene of especially intense conflict. “Mines which could have been planted in some quarters, could hurt residents when they come back. There could still be traps laid in some rural areas," he explained. “It may take some more time to remove barriers and ditches in the region."
Authorities imposed a curfew on Cizre on December 14 to root out Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists who had dug trenches and erected barricades.
Dozens of soldiers, officers, terrorists and civilians were killed in clashes that erupted in the town of Cizre, near the border with Syria and Iraq.
