INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Update On Pkk Violence (August 1-7, 2008)

Published: Wed 13 Aug 2008 08:42 AM
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R 130842Z AUG 08
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7136
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
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RUEHAK/USDAO ANKARA TU
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TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: Update on PKK Violence (August 1-7, 2008)
REF: ANKARA 1452 and previous
(U) Sensitive but unclassified - please protect accordingly.
1. (SBU) This is another in a series of weekly reports on PKK
violence in Turkey. Our primary source is the Turkish General Staff
(TGS) website, which documents contacts and clashes with the PKK, as
well as casualties incurred.
2. (U) During the August 1-7, 2008 reporting period, five village
guards were killed and another five were injured in a clash in
Beytussebap, Sirnak Province on August 1. The total number of
security force casualties for the year through August 7, 2008, was
68 killed and 103 injured.
3. (U) During the same period, eight PKK terrorists were killed
during the August 1 Beytussebap clash. An additional two PKKers
were captured and six surrendered. According to official TGS
website figures, through the first week of August, the number of PKK
militants killed this year was 562, the number of those captured was
120, and the number of those who surrendered was 98.
4. (U) An explosion in a valve of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline occurred on August 5. According to media reports, the
military wing of the PKK claimed responsibility. However, pipeline
officials believe the cause may have technical malfunction. A PKK
explosive derailed a train near Guroymak, Bitlis Province on August
6. Nobody was injured in either incident. One civilian was injured
in an IED explosion near Guclukonak, Sirnak Province on August 4.
An additional three civilians were injured when four mortars were
fired in the vicinity of the 1st Army Headquarters in Istanbul on
August 6. GOT authorities believe the attack was carried out by the
PKK, but that has not been confirmed. The total number of civilian
casualties for the year through the end of the first week of August,
40 killed, with another 229 wounded, including the three civilians
injured in the mortar attack in Istanbul.
SILLIMAN
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