PKK continues to kill civilians in southeastern Turkey

The PKK terrorist organization has resumed targeting civilians in the southeast as a shepherd, who was the father of two village guards, was abducted and killed recently. Tayyip Fidan, a shepherd in the southeastern province of Şırnak, became the latest civilian victim of the PKK. The terrorist group has killed two teachers in the last month, as well as two district-level politicians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) earlier this month as part of its campaign of assassinations targeting Kurdish political figures who refuse to adhere to its policies in the region.

The family of Fidan, a father of seven, two of whom are village guards, informed gendarmerie forces on Sunday night that he did not come home and they found his animals roaming alone. Gendarmerie forces and village guards found Fidan's dead body yesterday morning following a search operation.

It was revealed that Fidan was kidnapped by PKK members while taking his animals out to pasture, was shot and later was left in a remote part of the city.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, a funeral was held for Necmettin Yılmaz, a 23-year-old teacher in Şanlıurfa who was kidnapped by the PKK last month on June 16 and found dead last Wednesday.

The body of a man found last week in eastern Tunceli province was identified on Saturday as Yılmaz, according to the provincial governor's office. In a statement, the Tunceli governor's office said a forensics report received from Istanbul confirmed that the body found near Pülümür Creek belonged to the teacher.

Last month, Yilmaz's car was shot at while he drove toward Gümüşhane on the Black Sea from southeastern Şanlıurfa province. His burned car was later found in Pülümür Valley.

PKK attack wounds 17 soldiers in southeastExplosives planted by PKK terrorists ripped through a Turkish military vehicle traveling through the southeast yesterday, wounding 17 soldiers, the military said.

The vehicle was passing through the Yüksekova district of Hakkari province, which borders Iran and Iraq, when the blast occurred, the military said. The wounded were immediately taken to hospital.

The military initially said four of the wounded were in serious condition, but a later statement said none of the injuries were serious.

50 PKK terrorists killed last weekAccording to an Interior Ministry statement released yesterday, security forces killed 50 terrorists in counterterrorism operations across the country this week.

The ministry said that 30 terrorists were killed, 14 surrendered and six others were captured.

More than 4,000 arrests were made in 1,128 operations between July 10 and July 17.

They include 168 suspected for aiding the PKK, 298 for ties to Daesh, 895 for links to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and five others who had joined leftist terrorist organizations, the statement added.

In the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, security forces destroyed 12 shelters used by terrorists, 27 mines and other explosives. They also seized 1.5 tons of explosive materials and heavy ammunitions.

In a crackdown on illegal migration, at least 3,352 suspects were arrested, including 54 who allegedly aided trafficking. Forty-nine suspects were arrested as part of cybersecurity operations.

The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU, broke the cease-fire unilaterally and resumed its armed campaign against the state in July 2015 after a brief reconciliation period.

Since that time, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of some 1,200 security personnel and civilians, including women and children, while more than 4,000 security personnel and over 2,000 civilians have been injured.

More than 40,000 people have lost their lives during its more than 30-year campaign against the Turkish state.