Kurdish fighters attack military base in Turkey’s southeast

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Kurdistan24) – On Friday, fighters of the military wing of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed several Turkish soldiers in two  separate attacks on two military bases in Turkey’s Kurdish southeastern town of Semdinli, near the border with Iran and Iraq.

Kurdistan24 office in Diyarbakir learned from Kurdish activists in Turkey’s southeastern province of Hakkari (known in Kurdish as Colemêrg) that about 17 Turkish soldiers were killed in attacks by fighters of HPG, the military wing of PKK.

Activists who spoke to Kurdistan24 on condition of anonymity due to security reasons said that the Kurdish fighters targeted two military bases on two hills in the countryside of Semdinli.

“About 8 Turkish soldiers were killed in one base while about more 9 others were killed in the other base,” activists said.

Additionally, Netherlands-based Kurdish Firat News Agency (ANF), a close associate of HPG, reported a similar number of casualties saying that about 19 Turkish soldiers were killed in the attack.

“Guerrillas infiltrated into [one of the] hills [around Semdinli] and destroyed 6 emplacements where the death of 9 soldiers was verified… 10 more soldiers were killed by another guerrilla unit in this area,” ANF reported on Friday referring to the Kurdish fighters as “guerillas.”

On the Kurdish side, ANF reported that two HPG fighters lost their lives in the attacks.

However, the Turkish state-run press agency Anadolu Agency (AA) reported on Saturday that only two Turkish soldiers were killed.

“Four [Turkish] soldiers were wounded in the attack on Tekeli military base in Semdinli town of Hakkari province,” AA claimed.

Last month, the HPG fighters killed two Turkish pilots in downing a military helicopter in Hakkari’s district of Cukurca (known in Kurdish as Çelê).

Turkey’s southeast has been scorched by violence since a ceasefire between the PKK and the government collapsed last July. Round-the-clock curfews were instituted in parts of the southeast.

A top UN official recently deplored Turkish government's military abuses in the Kurdistan of Turkey, stating that more than 100 people were burned to death while sheltering in basements in Cizre.

Editing by Ava Homa