Nilay Kar
December 20, 2015•Update: December 21, 2015
ANKARA
A Turkish soldier was martyred in a clash with PKK terrorists in southeastern Turkey on Sunday, the Turkish General Staff said in a written statement.
The soldier was wounded during the clash with PKK in the Cizre district of the southeastern province of Sirnak at 9.30 a.m. local time [0730GMT], the statement said. He died later in the day at the hospital.
On its website, the General Staff also released details of Saturday's security operations in the southeast.
According to a statement, 18 PKK terrorists were killed on Saturday during the operations conducted by security forces in the provinces of Sirnak and Diyarbakir.
In a separate incident, one PKK terrorist surrendered to security forces in the province of Sanliurfa.
Twenty barricades on roads in the Silopi district of Sirnak were lifted and six hand-made explosives [planted on the roads] were destroyed, the statement added.
The PKK - considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU - resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in late July.
Since then, official figures indicate more than 200 members of the security forces have been martyred and over 1,700 PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq, including airstrikes.
