The bodies of three of the six soldiers and a civilian killed by the PKK attack were sent to their hometowns for burial, while the remains of the other victims have been taken to Ankara for positive identification.
President Abdullah Gül, who released a message expressing condolences to the families and the nation, said Turkey’s fight against terrorism was going to continue with the same resolve as before.
Six soldiers and one civilian were killed in a bomb attack targeting a military vehicle on a road in the eastern province of Tunceli on Tuesday evening.
A powerful explosion shook Tunceli’s Atatürk district at around 6:00 p.m., and seven casualties were reported with many ambulances rushing to the scene of the blast.
Security officials said explosives were planted in a car stolen by terrorists on Tuesday morning and parked on a road in Atatürk. The explosives were detonated by remote control as a military vehicle passed by.
The explosion caused a fire that spread to several vehicles at the scene. The fire was brought under control by firefighters from the Tunceli Municipality.
The victims are four privates — Fatih Küçükterci, Mümin Koca, Kadir Dadaş and Ramiz Demir, two special sergeants — Cuma Karadavut, Ahmet Oğul — and one woman, Fadime Acar, who was passing by near the site of the blast. Acar’s husband was also injured.
Following a ceremony held to honor the slain soldiers in Malatya, the bodies of Demir, Karadavut and Koca were sent to their hometowns in Afyonkarahisar, Yozgat and Manisa, respectively, to be buried, while the other three soldiers’ bodies were sent to the Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine (GATA) in Ankara for positive identification. Acar will also be buried in her hometown of Tunceli.
Some news reports claimed on Wednesday that the terrorists aimed to target the commander of the Tunceli 4th Ranger Brigade, Gen. Metin Akkaya, who previously directed operations in the region. The attack occurred right after Akkaya got into his vehicle and left the scene of the incident and was thus unharmed by the attack, reports said.
In the meantime, four people suspected of being involved in the attack were detained on Wednesday.
Following the bloody attack, security forces and police units were reportedly deployed in the area and launched operations.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Tunceli deputy Hüseyin Aygün said three of the bodies of the slain soldiers had been mutilated in the blast. He slammed the violent methods of the PKK, saying that the explosion in the downtown of the city had targeted innocent people, including women and children.
Releasing a statement following the attack, Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek said he condemns the “organization’s separatist militants who live by shedding blood and hurting others.” “I invite the terrorists who fail to understand that their acts to disrupt our unity and peace will yield no result to give up serving the interests of others and to become honorable citizens of my beautiful country,” he added.
The terrorist PKK has stepped up its armed activities in recent months. In a similar attack last week, it killed 10 soldiers and wounded 60 when a group of terrorists fired rocket-propelled grenades at a military convoy traveling between the eastern provinces of Bingöl and Muş.
Listed as a terrorist organization by the US, EU and Turkey, the PKK has been waging war against the Turkish state for almost three decades. This year saw one of the bloodiest campaigns in the 28-year-old conflict since the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the PKK, in 1999.
(Today’s Zaman)
