Update on PKK Violence (May 1-15, 2007)

UNCLAS ANKARA 001230 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ SUBJECT: Update on PKK Violence (May 1-15, 2007) REF: ANKARA 1160 and previous (U) Sensitive but unclassified - please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) This is another in a series of periodic reports on PKK violence in Turkey. Our primary sources for these reports are mainstream Turkish press services, such as the Anatolian News Agency, and international wire services. While these are more reliable than most Turkish press sources, they are not necessarily unimpeachable. A major source is the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff (TGS) website which documents contacts/clashes with the PKK. Press services sympathetic to the PKK, such as Neu-Isenburg People's Defense Forces and Firat News Agency, tend to report higher numbers of the Turkish Security Forces casualties and are often otherwise unreliable. ¶2. (U) From May 1-15, 2007, six security personnel died in clashes with the PKK or in IED explosions in Diyarbakir, Sirnak and Hakkari provinces. During the same period 19 security officials were wounded. ¶3. (U) The TGS website for the first half of May did not refer to any PKK terrorists being killed, but did report that security forces arrested 27 PKK terrorists. Among those 27, three were turned over by the KDP at the Turkey-Iraq border, and another three by Iranian authorities. ¶4. (U) The Turkish military reported 20 clashes between security forces and PKK terrorists in the region. Security forces unearthed dozens of PKK shelters and caves and seized booby-trapped land mines; other explosives, including A-4 and TNT; Kalashnikov rifles; cartridges; hand grenades; pistols; night vision binoculars; TV sets; satellite antennas; and radios. ¶5. (U) Quarterly statistics: --NOTE: May 2007 figures are for May 1-15 only. CLASHES NUMBER May 2007 20 clashes April 2007 38 clashes March 2007 13 clashes CASUALTIES Security Forces May 2007 6 KIA, 19 WIA April 2007 18 KIA, 16 WIA March 2007 5 KIA, 4 WIA PKK May 2007 0 reported KIA, 27 captured/arrested April 2007 2 KIA, 47 captured/arrested March 2007 9 KIA, 18 captured/arrested CACHES RECOVERED May 2007 76 April 2007 109 March 2007 61 WILSON