19 Children Die Due to Explosives in Last 2 Years

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In a neighborhood in Yüksekova district in Turkey's southeastern province of Hakkari, which has suffered the most from curfews and operations, two explosives have exploded on two consecutive days. On Saturday (March 10), 10 year-old Berat Oktay lost his life. One day later, İbrahim Akdağ, who lives in the same neighborhood, was severely injured upon the explosion of an explosive at the garden of his house.

Speaking to bianet about these two incidents, Erkan Çapraz from Yüksekova News has stated that Güngör neighborhood, where the two explosions took place, is one of the two neighborhoods which have suffered the largest-scale destruction and the most serious conflicts during the period of curfews and operations.

Most families in the neighborhood had previously abandoned their houses during the period of operations and returned their homes once the operations were completed.

Upon the declaration of curfew in Yüksekova on March 13, 2016, operations and conflicts started in the district. The curfew was partially abolished on May 30, 2016 and the people of Yüksekova who had to abandon their houses started to return their homes after this date.

During the 78-day curfew, most buildings at the district center were demolished and 95 people lost their lives. During this period, more than 6 thousand houses were also devastated.

Explosions at the sites of operations

Mesopotamia Agency has reported that in the last two years, explosion of ammunition left behind from operations has claimed the lives of 19 children and injured 36 people.

Apart from Yüksekova, where these two explosions took place, Şemdinli district in Hakkari; the city center and Cizre, İdil and Silopi districts in Şırnak; Sur, Lice and Silvan districts in Diyarbakır as well as Nusaybin and Dargeçit districts in Mardin have experienced similar incidents. (AS/SD)