Police officer martyred in SE Turkey

ANKARA

A Turkish police officer was martyred Thursday in an operation against the terrorist PKK group in Cizre district, police sources said.

The Turkish General Staff also said in a statement Thursday that security forces killed five PKK terrorists Wednesday during ongoing operations in Turkey’s Sirnak and Diyarbakir provinces.

Four terrorists were killed and five others captured in Sirnak’s Cizre district. The total number of terrorists killed in Cizre since operations started in mid-December has reached 526, the army said.

The Turkish General Staff also reported that another PKK terrorist was killed in Diyarbakir’s Sur district during counter-terrorism operations. The total number of terrorists killed in Sur district has reached 154, the military said.

Numerous weapons were also reportedly seized during the operations.

The PKK -- considered a terrorist organization also by the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in late July 2015.

Since then, more than 250 members of the security forces have been martyred and thousands of PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.