Turkish Armed Forces said on Tuesday that 16 more members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist organization had been killed in the ongoing “sweeping operation” in several districts in the southeastern region of the country.
The military said in a released statement that 10 PKK terrorists were killed in the Sur district of Diyarbakır province while four were killed in Silopi and two in Cizre districts of the southeastern border province of Şırnak.
With the recent killings, the total number of terrorists killed in Cizre reached 265, in Silopi 130 and in Sur 88.
The latest figures increased the total figure of PKK terrorists killed in the three districts to 483, the statement read.
Moreover, security forces confiscated nine Kalashnikov rifles, 900 magazines, a large quantity of fireworks, two rocket launchers, 16 weapons and ammunition, 21 units of shipped cartridge, 5 hand grenades, two kg of explosives, two pairs of night-vision binoculars, a pair of hand-held binoculars, seven hand-held radios, seven gas masks, a mine detector and 15 tubes to be used for handmade explosives during operations in Silopi.
On the other hand, a large number of weapons and ammunition, including 202 hunter rifles, one Kalashikov rifle, two handmade bombs and an anti-tank rocket launcher ammunition where seized in Cizre district.
The statement said, security forces have lifted a total of 13 barricades from Sur and Cizre districts while two members of the terrorist group were detained by military officials as they tried to cross illegally from Syria into Turkey near Artuklu district of Mardin province.
Turkey has been fighting against the PKK to rescue cities from militants by declaring curfews and launching operations in the region.
The PKK – considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU – resumed its armed campaign in late July.
More than 200 members of the security forces were martyred and over 3,100 PKK terrorists were killed in 2015 alone.
