Hand grenades seized in PKK shelter belong to Iran

Today's Zaman - A fact sheet recently sent from the Hakkari Police Department to the National Police Department over operations conducted against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Hakkari last week revealed that hand grenades seized in a PKK shelter were found to belong to Iran.

Police and gendarmerie forces conducted military operations against PKK terrorists in Hakkari's Çukurca district last week. Destroying many shelters of the PKK in the region, the security forces seized food and weapons supplies, finding A4 explosives as well as hand grenades at the shelters. The security forces later determined that the grenades seized in the operations are Iranian MDN-11 hand grenades.

Allegations that Tehran permits the PKK to organize its political activities in Iran and provides assistance to PKK terrorists have surfaced repeatedly in the media in recent months. Some PKK terrorists captured during recent military operations confessed during their interrogations that Iran was supporting the PKK indirectly. The captured PKK terrorists also claimed that the PKK rented a hospital in Nagadeh, Iran, in September 2008 in order to treat PKK terrorists injured by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and that this hospital is still operating in Iran. The terrorists further claimed that a hospital in Iran's Urmia province provides medical treatment to injured PKK terrorists and that Iran allowed the transfer of 400 PKK terrorists from northern Iraq to the region around Nagadeh and the Armenian capital of Yerevan. Senior PKK officials conducted their meetings at hotels in Iran, the terrorists said.

Meanwhile, Turkish security forces seized many food and weapons supplies in PKK shelters during the operations held in the region between Tunceli's Ovacık and Pülümür districts on Saturday. They could not find any terrorists at the shelters. PKK terrorists were expected to be moving to forested areas from shelters and caves with the arrival of spring. Security forces continue to search for terrorists in the region.