BREAKING: 12 YOUTHS EXECUTED BY TURKISH POLICE IN A HOUSE RAID IN VAN F

10th January 2016

ANF - Van

Special operations police teams raided a house in Van's central Edremit district in the early hours of the morning and executed 12 youths aged between 18 and 25.

According to witnesses, the youths in the house were all in civilian clothes and many of them were shot in the head. Only one Kalashnikov rifle has been found near the bodies of the youths, and it is suspected to have been left near them by police after the executions.

Wtnesses said the raid was conducted by special operations teams on a two-storey house in the Yeni neighborhood at around 5am this morning. Armoured vehicles also targeted the house with intense gunfire. Police forces blockaded the neighborhood during the raid that lasted 2 hours, after which many ambulances were sent to the scene.

Reports say that the bodies of 12 people executed in the operation have been taken to Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Dursun Odabaşı Medical Center. The corpses are said to belong to youths aged between 18 and 25, who were all shot in the head apart from one who was shot in stomach.

A large number of police have been deployed on the busiest streets in the city centre. 

A statement by the governor's office said 1 policeman had died and 2 others were wounded in the raid operation, while '12 members of the terrorist organisation were captured dead.'

The incident comes a day after Peoples' Democratic Party co-chair Selahattin Demirtas spoke at a rally in Van to tens of thousands.

Edited by Kurdish Question

http://kurdishquestion.com/