Turkey neutralizes 170 PKK terrorists in December 2016

By Yunus Okur

ERZURUM, Turkey (AA) - Security forces neutralized 170 PKK terrorists in December 2016, according to figures compiled by Anadolu Agency based on military and police sources.

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralize" in their statements to imply the terrorist in question was either killed or captured.

Among the neutralized terrorists, 110 were killed, 18 surrendered and 42 others captured.

Also, 55 security personnel were martyred, 10 civilians were killed and 166 others were wounded in PKK attacks in the same month.

- Detentions

A total of 1,146 suspects were arrested in operations against the PKK terror group and its youth wing in December 2016.

Among 1,146 suspects, 604 of them, including executives and mayors of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) were taken into custody.

- Major attacks

On Dec. 10, twin terror attacks -- one by a bomb-laden car and the other a suicide bomb -- near Besiktas’s Vodafone Arena after a Turkish football league match martyred 45 people, mostly police officers and left dozens of others wounded.

On Dec. 17, a suicide car bomb attack hit a public bus in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri, martyring 14 soldiers and wounding 55 others.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015. Over 1,100 people, including over 800 security personnel and over 300 civilians, have lost their lives in PKK attacks since then. More than 4,000 security personnel and over 2,000 civilians have also been injured.