Counterterror operations against the PKK terror organization in the southeastern Cizre district have almost come to an end. The operations, however, will continue in similar locations, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said on Saturday.
Since the imposing of weeks-long curfews in the district, security units have cleared the region of PKK tunnels, filled ditches and inflicted heavy losses on the terrorist organization in clashes. The majority of police and military casualties were due to roadside bombs and rockets fired at military vehicles.
Ala gave a statement in northwestern Bursa province after meeting with the city's mayor. He said that the ongoing operations aim to safely relocate displaced people back to the Cizre and Sur districts where the most intense counterterror operations have been ongoing.
He said that 99.5 percent of the operations in Cizre have been finished and that the remaining small portion consists of targeting high-profile terrorists. Operations in the southeastern districts of Sur, Cizre and Silopi have killed 718 terrorists since mid-December.
As part of a new government plan to build 15 police and military posts in the conflict-stricken southeastern districts, special operation team members will reportedly patrol Silopi, Cizre and Sur where PKK presence poses the highest threat, making sure that terrorists do not continue digging ditches.
The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU, resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state last July. Since then, more than 240 members of the security forces have been killed and thousands of PKK terrorists have been killed in operations in Turkey and Northern Iraq.
