PKK Attack Kills Seven Soldiers

As a result of a PKK attack on a gendarmerie station in Pülümür, a district town in the province of Tunceli in Eastern Turkey, seven soldiers were killed and seven more injured.

The killed soldiers were from all over Turkey: from Izmir and Balikesir on the Aegean coast, from Amasya in Northern Turkey, from Kayseri in Central Anatolia, from Erzurum in the East, from Gaziantep in the South, and from Sirnak in the South-East.

According to "Radikal" newspaper, the jeep which the PKK used was admitted into the station because it was known by the soldiers. One militant threw a hand grenade into the station. When the soldiers returned fire, one militant was killed and one escaped with injuries.

According to the pro-Kurdish "Gündem" newspaper, the PKK takes responsibility for the attack.

Sarah Rainsford, the BBC reporter in Istanbul, has speculated that this attack would increase support for a Turkish cross-border military operation in Northern Iraq to flush out the PKK. (TK/AG/EÜ)