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| The Grand Turk |
| Turkey claims 12 PKK killed in raid, Kurds say they were civilians |
| 2016-01-11 |
| [Rudaw] ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... said it had killed 12 PKK fighters in a raid Sunday in the Kurdish city of Van, but Kurdish groups insisted the Special Operations Forces had stormed a home and massacred civilians. The pro-Ankara Daily Sabah said "a police officer has been killed and two others have been maimed during an anti-terror operation against the PKK in eastern Van province on Sunday, where 12 bad boyz were potted." It quoted Van Governor Ibrahim Tasyapan as saying that the operation against the PKK -- or Kurdistan Workers' Party -- took place around dawn. "The police was tracking the group, but we also received related notices from our citizens," he said, revealing that two special-forces troops were slightly maimed in the operation. "Sources added that 30 grenades, 12 long-barreled weapons and a machine gun were seized during a search of the premises," the Daily Sabah website reported. But the pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency (ANF), meanwhile, said that the home had been occupied by young Kurds "dressed in civilian clothes." The agency cited an official from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) as saying the incident amounts to a "mass execution." "They are all young people in civilian clothes, as has been conveyed to us by those who saw the bodies, ANF quoted HDP official Tugba Hezer as saying. "This is a mass execution." Video footage released by the Dogan News Agency showed what it said was the aftermath of the raid in Van, with bodies lying in the snow. According to reports the slain were aged between 18 and 25. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |