5 PKK/KCK suspects arrested in SE Turkey

By Hasan Namli

DIYARBAKIR (AA) - Turkish police have arrested five people for their alleged links to the PKK/KCK terror group, security sources said on Sunday.

As part of an investigation launched by prosecutors in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, anti-terror police carried out simultaneous operations and raided 10 locations in Diyarbakir and Bingol, said a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Among the arrested are officials and members of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) in Diyarbakir and Bingol.

During the raids, the forces seized organizational documents, laptops and flash memory drives from the possession of the suspects.

A police hunt for other suspects is under way.

Ankara accuses the HDP of links with the terror group PKK, and a large number of local HDP mayors have been suspended from office, facing terrorism charges.

The DBP is a regional-level sister party of HDP.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU -- has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people.

*Writing by Burak Dag in Ankara