Azernews.Az

ANKARA – Five people were killed when members of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacked a gendarmerie command building and the police department in the Şemdinli district of eastern Hakkari province late on Sunday, the local governor said, Todays Zaman reported.

Hakkari Governor Muammer Türker said terrorists staged attacks on two targets in the town late on Sunday night. "Five people were killed in the attack, including a policeman, a gendarme and three civilians. Ten people, including seven gendarmes, were injured," he said.

The governor added that a large-scale security operation was under way in the region to capture the terrorists. Cobra attack helicopters in Hakkari and the surrounding areas have begun attacking possible PKK hideouts in the area, while special operations teams and rangers have launched a ground attack against the terrorist group. The PKK, which has recently stepped up its attacks in the country's East and Southeast, has killed more than 40 soldiers in the past few months.

The gendarmerie's offices and the police department in Şemdinli are only 100 meters apart, and the attacks took place simultaneously. Following the attack, the police responded immediately, and the fighting in the area continued for two hours. Residents of the area told the press that the neighborhood was like a battlefield, and three men were killed when they were caught in the clash. Two civilians, Necdet Güreli and Tayyar Güreli were killed while trying to return home and as was another, Osman Erbaş, who was attending a wedding in the area.

In a separate incident on Sunday, an armed female terrorist surrendered to members of the Çakırsöğüt gendarmerie brigade on the Şırnak-Siirt highway. The gendarmerie has not released the name of the female terrorist; however, she reportedly joined the PKK's mountain forces three months ago. The woman was sent to the prosecutor's office after being interrogated by gendarmes. Using information obtained from the woman, Turkish Air Forces (THK) units began an air attack operation in the Besta region to the east of Mount Cudi in the southeastern province of Şırnak.

Also on Sunday, the family of a soldier from Malatya who died last Thursday returned the Turkish flag with which covered their son's coffin to a gendarmerie brigade in Malatya. The family said military officials had told them that their son, Erhan Özel, committed suicide while on morning duty in Kahramanmaraş. The family said they do not believe that their son committed suicide and that military officials had given contradictory answers to the family's questions about their son's death. They added that they would not accept the return of the flag until the facts surrounding their son's death come to light.