Merkel offers condolences for PKK attack in southeast

German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent a message to Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım Tuesday offering her condolences just days after a suicide bombing in the Şemdinli district of southeastern Hakkari province left 15 people dead, including five civilians.

In response to the gruesome attack the German chancellor said, "Once again, the terrorists have targeted security forces in a heinous attack which also resulted in the deaths and injuries of civilians. I strongly condemn yesterday's attack."

At a press conference yesterday, deputy spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli of the German Foreign Ministry said, "Nothing can justify such terrorist attacks."

Terrorist assassination plot thwarted

Nearly a dozen suspected PKK terrorists were killed in southeast Turkey on Tuesday, seven of them in Hakkari province during a clash with security forces and two others in the province of Şırnak. The terrorists were allegedly planning to assassinate regional district Governor Ahmet Adanur, according to the military source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU and resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015. Since then, the terrorist attacks have killed more than 600 security personnel and claimed the lives of scores of civilians, including women and children, while more than 7,000 PKK terrorists have been killed in army operations.