Cizre becomes ghost town amidst clashes

The southeastern town of Cizre has become a ghost town following clashes during a 12-hour curfew imposed for military operations against outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants, which left one police officer killed. 

Having seen a number of curfews over the past several months, with the latest in place for 12 hours, Cizre has become a ghost town, whose pictures show vehicles burnt, buildings with bullet damage on their outer walls, stores with window glass smashed, homes destroyed and looted, pavement cracked and several other damages in the curfew-hit town. The latest curfew was imposed at 2 p.m. on Nov. 24 and lifted at 6 a.m. on Nov. 25.

During the anti-terror operation on Nov. 24, the police officer identified as Umut Tuncay was injured during clashes with militants in Cizre, a district in the southeastern province of ??rnak, but later succumbed to his injuries at the Cizre Public Hospital where he was taken for treatment, the ??rnak Governor's Office said in a written statement.

The governor's office added that Tuncay was killed after PKK militants opened fire at a checkpoint in Cizre's Yafes neighborhood on Nov. 24. 

"In operations launched to capture the perpetrators of the attack, five PKK militants were killed," said the governor's office, adding that the operation was ongoing.

Do?an News Agency reported that Tuncay's body was sent to his hometown of Ankara after a symbolic funeral ceremony was done outside a local gendarmerie command in ??rnak on Nov. 25.

In a separate incident in ??rnak's ?dil district, a police officer was injured after PKK militants fired shots with automatic guns at a police convoy patrolling a major road around 12 p.m. on Nov. 25. 

The clashes between security...