Burgeoning Security Turmoil in Turkey

Just days after a deadly suicide bombing in Istanbul, Kurdish separatists wrecked havoc on a police complex in southeastern Turkey. The deadly attack left at least six people dead and dozens other wounded. Turkish officials have declared the attack "the most sophisticated" one since violence flared up between insurgents and the Turkish state in July, last year.

According to sources, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party( PKK), struck a police station and lodgings for security officials in the Cinar district of Diyarbakir on Wednesday, with a car bomb which was followed by long-range weapons shots, the provincial governor’s office said on Thursday. Five civilians and a policeman were killed and 39 people were wounded in the attack.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “I vehemently condemn this attack,” he said in Ankara. Terming the attackers as enemy of humanity he emphasized the need of a collective action against terrorists. "As humanity, presenting a joint stance against all forms of terrorism, to fight it together, is now a necessity,” Mr. Davutoglu said on Thursday.

“There is extensive damage,” the Diyarbakir governor’s office said pointing towards the facades of four-floor buildings housing policemen and their families blown off by the blast, which also triggered the collapse of a nearby, two-story private home.

Back-to-back attacks by Kurdish and jihadist militants highlight the burgeoning security turmoil in Turkey which has intensified in recent months. Turkey is faced with a two-tier security challenge. Turkey is trying to crack down on the PKK in the country’s southeast, while at the same time is also trying to keep the elements of ISIS away from its borders with Syria by sealing it. So far, Turkey has failed to cope with any of these completely. Turkey has even asked the US to help train Sunni Arabs to secure the country's southern border which Western governments have long complained is one of the main routes extremists take to leave Syria and travel internationally.

Just like ISIS, PKK is also listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union as well.

Though PKK didn’t immediately claim the overnight attack in Diyarbakir, the Kurdish-run Firat news agency reported that an action had been staged against the police complex with a car bomb and rocket-propelled grenades, using terminology the media outlet deploys for PKK strikes without naming the group. A PKK spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Islamic State attacks have killed more than 140 civilians in the past eight months, while the PKK’s strikes with roadside bombings and improvised-explosive devices during the same period in southeast Turkey caused the deaths of about 100 security officials.

After Tuesday’s attack on Istanbul, Turkey expanded its crackdown on Islamic State networks, detaining scores of suspects in nationwide raids and linking seven people to the suicide bombing. In the past 48 hours, Turkish artillery units have also pummeled Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq, firing 500 shells and killing some 200 militants, Turkey’s premier said on Thursday.

In recent months, Turkey has also been ramping up its campaign against the PKK, declaring curfews and boosting its military and police deployments in the country’s southeast in a sweeping effort to remove Kurdish militants from areas, including in Diyarbakir, where the organization’s youth arm had declared autonomy. On Tuesday, Turkish jets struck PKK camps in northern Iraq, where the group also keeps its headquarters.

Following the blast in Cinar, a half-hour drive south of central Diyarbakir, fighting inside the city’s historic city walls also intensified, eyewitnesses said. The official at the governor’s office said security forces had cleared some 60% of central Diyarbakir from PKK militants.

“Operations continue, but to avoid civilian casualties, we are going as slow as possible,” the official said.

The attack marks the first car bombing in Diyarbakir since 2008, when five people were killed and dozens injured, an official at the governor’s office said. In August, authorities foiled a similar attack in the neighboring Batman province, defusing explosives in a parked vehicle. In September, a PKK car-bombing in nearby Hakkari province failed after the explosion killed only Kurdish militants.

The strike by the Kurdish insurgents follows an Islamic State suicide bombing in Istanbul’s historic center on Tuesday, which killed 10 German tourists in the extremist organization’s fourth deadly assault in Turkey since June.

Source: The Centrum Media http://thecentrummedia.com