Two police officers were martyred when a makeshift explosive planted by PKK terrorists hit an armored police vehicle on a highway in southeastern Diyarbakir province Tuesday, local police said, according to Anadolu Agency.
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They said the bomb was believed to have been detonated by remote control on the road between the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir and the town of Silvan.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed to press ahead with anti-PKK operations, saying the security forces would pursue the Kurdish militants “neighbourhood by neighbourhood, house by house, street by street”.
In the southeastern province of Diyarbakr an indeterminate curfew has been in place in Diyarbakr’s Sur district since December 2 except for an hours-long break during which residents of the southeastern town fled their homes fearing for their lives. Since then, Ankara has imposed round-the-clock curfews in many areas. It was not clear exactly when they were killed. Shopkeepers shuttered their stores before the protest, which the government said was banned. Few buses were operating, rubbish was not collected and most students did not go to school.
In the towns of Cizre and Silopi near the Syrian and Iraqi border, which were placed under curfew on Monday evening, police armoured vehicles were deployed on hills overlooking the towns and the streets there were quiet overnight, witnesses said.
Authorities on Monday collided with a group of Kurds following a demonstration by some 5,000 individuals denouncing a dayslong curfew imposed by the authorities in one area in the mostly Kurdish of Diyarbakir.
It was imposed days after prominent pro-Kurdish lawyer Tahir Elci was shot dead in Diyarbakir during a battle between police and unidentified gunmen in which two policemen also died. Several thousand teachers are based in the towns. It said the curfew would begin at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT).
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The statement argues that since June 7, there have been 52 “indefinite and all day” curfews in the six provinces, seeing 140 people killed including children, with sick people dying because of lack of access to health care, while others have gone without access to electricity and water. It is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.
