Turkey’s interior Minister Efkan Ala also reported about the introduction of round the clock curfew in seven districts in the South-East of the country on Sunday.
The Turkish General staff said in a statement on Sunday that over the past days 28 PKK fighters and one Turkish military personnel were killed in Southeast Turkey over past few days.
The high number of “PKK casualties” by the Turkish officials after the Sunday incident could also mean that a number of civilians were among alleged PKK members.
On Sunday, Turkey’s interior Minister Efkan Ala also reported about the introduction of round the clock curfew in seven districts in the South-East of the country.
Previously, Ala announced an indefinite curfew and the beginning of a new anti-terrorist operation against members of the banned PKK in three regions of Turkey — Yuksekova of Hakkari province, Şırnak and Nusaybin.
On Saturday, Turkish police used water cannon to disperse the crowd, about 500 people in number during Nowruz festivities held by Kurds in the town of Silopi of Turkey. It is reported that the crowd was concentrating against a ban on mass gatherings amid Turkish government crackdown on Kurdish militants.
Since the truce broke off in July 2015, 300 fighters of the Turkish security forces were killed. According to the Turkish General Staff, the Turkish military killed more than a thousand Kurdish fighters.
However, the Kurdish sources argue that hundreds of civilians were killed during the Turkish military operation against Kurdish militias.
The Turkish government has recently been engaged in an intensified crackdown on the country’s Kurdish population in the southeast, since then violence has increased in Turkey. The country also has been carrying out airstrikes against Kurdish positions in Iraq and Syria.
