JINHA

NEWS CENTER – Police and soldiers have killed 10 residents of the Kurdish town of Cizre as a police blockade and curfew in the city enters its sixth day.

On September 4, Turkish state forces launched an all-out assault on the Kurdish city of Cizre. Since that day, police and soldiers have been opening fire on any civilians who leave their homes. This morning, the assault claimed its 10th victim after police blocked ambulance access to the Yafes neighborhood, which forces have been bombarding with heavy weapons since last night.

Clashes raged throughout the day yesterday. Police opened fire on residents who went into the streets, shooting and killing a resident named İbrahim Çiçek. State forces began bombing the Nur neighborhood using grenade launchers, then firing on the civilians fleeing their homes. One woman, Güneş Sansak, was wounded in the grenade attack on the Nur neighborhood. Police also opened fire on a group of Parliamentary representatives as they attempted to travel between neighborhoods to observe conditions
Police have enforced a total curfew in the town. When one resident of the Şah neighborhood opened his neighborhood shop so that residents could buy food and water to survive the siege, police descended from armored vehicles. The police raided the market and threatened the owner. When Parliamentary representatives arrived at the scene, police told them ominously, “You’ll see, we’ll finish this.”

As the evening went on, state forces launched a heavy weapons assault on the Yafes neighborhood. Meryem Süme, a 53-year-old mother of seven children, was sitting on her porch in the neighborhood when a bullet struck her in the abdomen. Because police prevented ambulances from reaching her, Meryem died of internal bleeding.
Early this morning, the raid on the Yafes neighborhood claimed another victim: 20-year-old Özgür Taşkın. Parliamentary representatives struggled for three hours to attempt to get an ambulance to the young man after he was shot around 5:00 a.m., but he died of blood loss. Özgür became the tenth civilian killed in police violence on the town.
Two more young people are currently trapped, wounded, in the Yafes neighborhood.

(zd-ma/fk/cm)