TURKEY: PKK VIOLENCE REPORT, PKK BLOWS UP SECTION

UNCLAS ANKARA 004885 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PTER TU IZ SUBJECT: TURKEY: PKK VIOLENCE REPORT, PKK BLOWS UP SECTION OF IRAN-TURKEY NATURAL GAS PIPELINE IN TURKEY REF: ANKARA 4778 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. (SBU) This is another in a series of periodic reports on PKK violence in Turkey (see reftels). Our primary sources for these reports are mainstream Turkish press services, such as the Anatolian News Agency, and international wire services. While these sources are more reliable than most Turkish press sources, they are not necessarily unimpeachable. Press services sympathetic to the PKK, such as Neu-Isenburg People's Defense Forces and Firat News Agency, tend to report higher numbers of Turkish Security Forces casualties. ¶2. (U) According to press reports, two members of the Turkish Security Forces were killed and four were wounded over the period August 14 - August 20. Two PKK terrorists were killed and nine were arrested. One civilian was killed in a land mine explosion, three were wounded by a blast in Istanbul, and two construction workers employed in a project in Bingol province were captured and then released two days later. The PKK also claimed responsibility for blowing up a section of the Iran-Turkey natural gas pipeline on August 19 in the eastern city of Agri. The initial blast felt up to 25 miles away. (Since May 2005 the PKK has allegedly sabotaged Turkish natural gas pipelines three times out of six attempts. Before the August 19 incident, the last successful pipeline bombing was reported on May 23, also in Agri province.) In the same period, Turkish forces seized 5 kg of plastic explosives and one light anti-tank weapon (LAW), among other weapons of unspecified numbers and types. ¶3. (U) We estimate that in 2006, approximately twenty-four civilians and up to 196 members of the Turkish Security Forces have perished as a result of PKK violence. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON