Turkey finds largest PKK bunker

Following the testimonies of two Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists who were captured by security forces last Thursday, the largest bunker was found so far belonging to the terrorist PKK in the eastern province of Bingol, Today's Zaman reported.

A written statement issued by the Bingol Governor's Office stated that security units conducted an operation in Gorese Mountain, located near Diyarbakır's Dicle district and captured two terrorists while they were attempting to flee in a car. One of the terrorists, who goes by the codename Zildan, was reportedly involved in terrorist attacks against the security forces when the Karlıova Gendarmerie Command was attacked by terrorists in July. Zildan is also being accused of killing a village guard, Hacı Alan. The other terrorist, codenamed Siyar, is reported to be Syrian.

During the interrogation of the terrorists, Zildan and Siyar gave the location of the largest underground bunker of the PKK, which has an administration room, a training room, two rooms large enough to sleep 15 people, two stock rooms with five tons of food, 150 meters of fabric, 10 sweat suits, 50 pairs of shoes, two generators, a sewing machine, various medicines and many day-to-day items.

Security forces also found two Kalashnikov rifles, hundreds of bullets, a radiophone, an undisclosed amount of dollar bills and some documents pertaining to captured terrorists.

The statement also said that gendarmes conducted surprise raids on 16 locations in Bingol province as part of an operation carried out by the Bingol Gendarmerie Command. During these raids police arrested 16 suspects, including three muhtars (village heads).

The number of PKK terrorists who have surrendered or were captured alive has increased since the government began to offer partial amnesty for those who leave the PKK. Dozens of terrorists who refused to surrender were killed in November and December. Turkish losses were minimal in these encounters.

That losses were kept at a minimum is mostly due to the joint efforts of the police force and military units, who have been cooperating for the first time since the Feb. 28, 1997 coup. With this new strategy the PKK has suffered major blows in northern Iraq and Turkey, such as in the November raids on the Kavaklı and Kazan camps in the southeastern province of Hakkari, where the terrorist death toll reached 300.

Not a single Turkish soldier was killed in the special forces operation in Kazan, where 54 PKK terrorists were killed in their hideout in early December.


/Trend/