32 terrorists neutralized over past week in Turkey

ANKARA

Turkish security forces killed 11 PKK terrorists in operations across Turkey last week, said the Interior Ministry Monday.

The weekly briefing note indicated that 11 PKK terrorists were killed, 16 were captured and five surrendered during counterterrorism operations across Turkey between Nov. 27 and Dec. 4.

Some 1,438 operations were carried out against the terrorist organization in the last week.

In addition, the nationwide operations saw a total of 4,505 suspects -- 982 terror suspects, 114 migrants and 3,409 suspects involved in drug and smuggling -- being remanded in custody.

During the operations, over 565 kilograms of explosives, 112 guns, 40 hand grenades and 57,128 ammunition cartridges were seized.

Moreover, 51 terrorist caves, 19 improvised explosives and a weapon emplacement were also destroyed.

During the operations, Bilal Serhat Saritas, codenamed Serdem -- category orange on the wanted list -- Sehabettin Nasa, codenamed Sores -- category grey -- and Hamdusena Atala, a reportedly high-level PKK official, were also captured.

The wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories with red designated as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and grey.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as the U.S. and the EU. In its over three-decade long terror campaign against Turkey, more than 40,000 people have been killed.

Since the group resumed its armed campaign in July 2015, more than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives.

Reporting by Sarp Ozer:Writing by Seyit Ahmet Aytac