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News and Comment by The Kurdistan Tribune:
Last night a Turkish state aeroplane attacked the village of Uludere in Sirnak Province on the Iraqi border and killed 35 villagers who were involved in smuggling.
According to reports the smugglers were spotted by unmanned drones and wrongly identified as PKK fighters.
“We have 30 corpses, all of them are burned. The state knew that these people were smuggling in the region. This kind of incident is unacceptable. They were hit from the air”, said Fehmi Yaman, the mayor of Uludere.
The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said in a statement that 35 people had been killed, adding that party leaders were heading for the area.
The Turkish government has so far made no comment.
Smuggling is an important source of income for locals in provinces along the Iraqi border and many villagers are involved in bringing fuel, cigarettes and other goods from Iraqi villages on the other side of the border.
It was always the fear of observers when the Turkish state stepped up its operations against the PKK that it would take many innocent lives.
Despite all the military pressure there is no sign that the Turkish military junta is winning its war against the PKK and last night’s slaughter is an indication of its desperation.
we should not be suprised why the member of PKK continusly rising according to Nuradin Faris the PKK armed council told the reporters that in the last year 1300 young boy and girl has joined our forces from all over the kurdistan.This revelation shows the PKK became more popular after all these years of armed struggle.