Update on PKK Violence (January 1-7, 2008)

UNCLAS ANKARA 000056 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ SUBJECT: Update on PKK Violence (January 1-7, 2008) REF: ANKARA 32 and previous (U) Sensitive but unclassified - please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) This is another in a series of weekly reports on PKK violence in Turkey. Our primary source is the Turkish General Staff (TGS) website, which documents contacts and clashes with the PKK, as well as casualties incurred. ¶2. (U) During the January 1 - 7, 2008 reporting period, no GOT security official was killed but 17 were reported injured in an explosion in Diyarbakir. When a remote car bomb was detonated in the evening of January 3 in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, six civilians were killed and a total of 67, including 17 military, were injured. The PKK later apologized for the explosion. The total number of security force casualties for the year through January 7, 2008 was zero killed and 17 injured. ¶3. (U) During the same period, no PKK terrorist was killed. One PKKer surrendered and three were captured. According to official TGS website figures, through the end of the first week of January, the number of PKK militants killed this year was zero, the number of those captured was three, and the number of those who surrendered was one. ¶4. (U) Civilian casualties for the year through the end of the first week of January were six killed, with another 50 wounded, in the Diyarbakir explosion. WILSON