Turkey On Alert For More Rebel Kurd

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Turkey On Alert For More Rebel Kurd Suicide Bombs

Turkey On Alert For More Rebel Kurd Suicide Bombs

TUNCELI, Turkey, Oct 30 (Reuter) - Security forces in
southeast Turkey are on alert for further suicide strikes
after rebel Kurds killed eight people and themselves in
human bomb attacks in the last week, military officials
said on Wednesday.

``We are getting tip-offs that there will be new suicide
attacks -- around three or four,'' an army official told
Reuters in the eastern town of Tunceli. ``We don't know
where or when, but generally their targets have been the
army or police.''

The official said the interior ministry had issued orders
for special precautions to be taken in the provinces of
Tunceli, Sivas, Diyarbakir, Erzincan and Bingol following
the attacks by female militants dressed up as pregnant
women with explosives strapped to their waist.

The ERNK, the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK), issued a statement late on Wednesday in which
it warned of ``a new era of metropolitan actions and new
examples of heroism...if the Turkish government continues
to refuse to take the warnings of the Kurdish people
seriously.''

A 17-year-old woman PKK guerrilla blew up herself and four
others in an attack in the southern town of Adana last
Friday.

Another female PKK militant -- identified as Guler Otas --
blew up an explosive device strapped to her body when she
and another rebel were in a police car after being
detained in the central town of Sivas on Tuesday, Turkey's
Republic Day holiday.

The rebels, three police officers and a civilian were
killed in that blast. It was the third since the rebels,
fighting for self-rule, launched a campaign of suicide
attacks.

The first attack, in July, was carried out by another
woman guerrilla in the province of Tunceli, haunt of
elusive PKK regional commander Semdin ``Fingerless Zeki''
Sakik.

Military officials say Otas was trained by Sakik, whom the
army has tried in vain to hunt down in numerous operations
since he arrived in Tunceli two years ago.

Turkish newspapers published pictures taken at Sakik's
camp in the mountains of Tunceli, showing Otas and the
first bomber, Zeynep Kinaci, standing next to Sakik.

Otas was no stranger to the police. Security forces issued
a statement on the Anatolian news agency late on Monday
that they were searching for Otas and another woman
guerrilla who had infiltrated Sivas town centre.

More than 21,000 people have been killed in fighting
between the rebels and security forces since 1984.

Interior Minister Mehmet Agar criticised police in Sivas
for failing to prevent the blast despite being on alert
over Otas and catching her before ceremonies in the town
for Republic day, a national holiday marking the
foundation of Turkey in 1923.

``They did not search her, and they unfortunately paid
with their lives for such a basic mistake,'' Agar told
Turkish television late on Tuesday.

``Our team suspected the woman, but could not search her
because there was no policewoman to do it,'' said a
policeman in Sivas, a conservative town with a strong
Islamist presence.

Police had detained Otas, dressed in black Islamic
``hijab'' women's clothing, after searching a minibus
ahead of the fatal explosion.

Security officials in Tunceli said the interior ministry
had issued a directive that women police and equipment for
searching for explosives should be present at all security
points in the region. And civilians should be searched not
less than 200 metres (yards) away from military positions,
the directive said.

The police officer in Sivas told Reuters by telephone that
they also held a third rebel who escaped Tuesday's blast
after being separated from Otas.

``We have not had time to question him yet,'' he said.
``But I know that if they could have blasted the bomb
during ceremonies, it would have killed at least 50
people.''


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