Expert Report: Önkol Died of Unexploded Ammunition

Diyarbakır Attorney's General Office lawyer Eyyüp Mutlu announced the outcome of an expert report about the death of 12-year-old Ceylan Önkol from Lice in the north of the Diyarbakır province. The girl died of an explosion that occurred on Paşaçiya field close to her home on 28 September while she was grazing the sheep.

According to the report prepared by 2 explosive specialists of the Police Directorate, Önkol pampered with a knife on an unexploded rifle grenade. Apparently, this led to the explosion of the ammunition which killed the girl.

There are different types of mechanisms attached to rifle grenades and bombs used to throw bombs over longer distances such as rifle grenade launching, drum bomb launching, and automatic bomb launching which are widely used in gendarmerie and infantry units.

According to the Anatolian News Agency, the expert report stated that the metal parts found in Önkol's body belong to a 40 millimeter bomb launching ammunition which exploded as a result of hits from a hard object.

The report concludes that those hits were made by Önkol with a kind of curved pruning knife. As reported by the experts, the knife found on the scene of the incident shows evidence of scratch marks caused by an explosion.

"It was not a mortar, but the type could not be determined yet"

The report states that the explosion was not caused by a mortar shell, explaining that a mortar shell would leave bigger parts and parts of its tail. The experts suppose Önkol was killed by a bomb launching ammunition but were not able to determine the model.

Serdar Çelebi from the Diyarbakır Branch of the Human Rights Association spoke to bianet before and stated that Önkol's arms and legs were not injured but her abdominal region had been torn up. Furhtermore he mentioned the fact that there was no hole in the ground which would eliminate the possibility of a mine or an unexploded ammunition. (TK/VK)