ANKARA (AA): At least 19 civilians — including three children — have been killed in armed and bomb attacks in Turkey since July 7, according to the figures compiled by Anadolu Agency.
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK); Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) — the youth wing of the PKK — and the leftist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) were blamed to have carried out the attacks — mostly in east and southeast Turkey. PKK, YDG-H and DHKP-C are listed as terrorist organizations by Turkey.
The 19 victims included an Iranian national as well as three children.
On August 7, suspected PKK members killed an Iranian national in Turkey’s eastern Agri province after getting caught up in a firefight between PKK militants and Turkish troops.
On August 30, 13-year-old Firat Simpil in southeastern Silvan was killed in a roadside bomb blast blamed on the PKK in southeastern Silvan town of Diyarbakir province. The device is believed to have been placed to target a military vehicle.
In Istanbul’s Gaziosmanpasa district, YDG-H members killed Mursel Gul, 45, on suspicion of being Daesh member.
The deaths of noncombatants, including women and children, highlight the toll of more than 30 years of fighting, mostly in Turkey’s southern and eastern provinces.
The fighting between the PKK and the security forces saw a fragile lull for a two-and-a-half year period from early 2013 in what is publicly known as the “solution process” in an attempt to end the conflict. The efforts led by the Turkish government were abandoned in June when the PKK renewed its armed struggle.
