TURKEY-KURDS/CLASHES Kurds clash with Turkish police in Cizre after three killed in Silopi

Record ID: 144751

  • Title: TURKEY-KURDS/CLASHES Kurds clash with Turkish police in Cizre after three killed in Silopi
  • Date: 7th August 2015
  • Summary: CIZRE, TURKEY (AUGUST 7, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PRO-PKK PROTESTERS, WEARING MASKS, BLOCKING THE ROADS AND CARRYING OUT ID CHECKS MASKED PROTESTERS STANDING NEXT TO BONFIRE TEAR GAS CANISTERS LANDING ON STREET, PROTESTER TRYING TO THROW A CANISTER BACK PROTESTERS RUNNING AWAY PROTESTER THROWING PETROL BOMB PROTESTERS NEXT TO BONFIRE TEAR GAS CANISTERS LANDING ON STREET
  • Embargoed: 22nd August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAABXXGHCDOW4QBH843MDJMHG27
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Pro-PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) protesters took to the streets in the southeastern Turkish town of Cizre on Friday (August 7) after three people were killed and seven wounded in clashes between police and Kurdish militants in the nearby town of Silopi, close to the Iraqi and Syrian borders.
    Masked protesters set up security check points on roads and stopped the vehicles asking for ID. Riot police used tear gas to disperse the crowd who retaliated with petrol bombs.
    The bloodshed in Silopi marked a further surge in unrest which has swept across the mainly Kurdish region in recent weeks, undermining a ceasefire crucial to a peace process between Ankara and the PKK militants.
    In two other separate incidents in Van and Agri provinces, the militants killed two soldiers, bringing the death toll among Turkish security forces since July 20 to at least 21.
    Violence has swept eastern Turkey since last month when the outlawed PKK ramped up attacks on security forces and Ankara launched reciprocal air strikes against the militants in Turkey and northern Iraq.
    Sporadic gunfire rang out and smoke rose from the town of Silopi in Sirnak province, close to Turkey's borders with Iraq and Syria, Reuters TV footage showed.
    Armoured jeeps and water cannon vehicles patrolled streets as youths in jeans and t-shirts looked on behind street corners. Makeshift barricades made of bricks and sandbags were erected on sidestreets.
    A statement from the provincial governor's office in Silopi said PKK militants had attacked security forces with rockets, handmade explosives and rifles at 5:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) as police launched an operation against militants who had dug trenches and erected barricades across the town.
    The statement also said a 17-year-old youth and a 58-year-old man were among the dead and that operations were continuing against the militants who continued protests in the area.
    Residents said a fire broke out when bullets hit a power distribution unit.
    "We ran outside. I managed to rescue my father and my brothers. A fire broke out. Nobody came to help us. We called everyone (asking for help), nobody came. Not even the mayor," an unnamed resident of Silopi said.
    The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and European Union, launched its insurgency in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
    The state launched a peace process with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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