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Turkish forces end operations against Kurdish militants in Diyarbakir district: sources
Buildings which were damaged during security operations and clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants are pictured in Sur district of Diyarbakir, Turkey, February 29, 2016. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Sertac Kayar
09/03/2016
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish security forces have concluded operations against Kurdish militants in the Sur district of southeast Turkey's largest city, Diyarbakir, security sources said on Wednesday, after months of conflict which have devastated much of the area.
Sur, encircled by UNESCO-listed Roman-era walls, has been one of the places worst hit by fighting between security forces and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) since its two-year-old ceasefire collapsed last July, shattering a peace process.
According to the armed forces, 271 militants have been killed in fighting in Sur, where a round-the-clock curfew was declared on Dec. 2 ahead of operations to remove ditches and barricades set up by the PKK in residential areas.
Military operations have also recently wound up in other parts of the mainly Kurdish southeast, most recently in the town of Idil, near the Syrian border. The military said on Wednesday 120 PKK fighters were killed in three weeks of fighting there.
In the town of Yuksekova near the Iranian border, militants opened fire on security forces removing barricades and ditches on Wednesday, the local governor's office said. It said the shooting had left one civilian dead and another wounded.
More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984. The group, which says it is fighting for Kurdish autonomy, is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.
(Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Daren Butler; editing by David Dolan and Gareth Jones)
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