Sûr District Of Diyarbakır Under Attack By Security Forces From Ground And Air

The Sûr district of Diyarbakır is once again under attack by Turkish state security forces, with plumes of smoke and the sounds of large explosions coming from the district, which is centrally located in the old walled city of Diyarbakır. According to the most recent reports compiled by JİNHA and carried in Özgür Gündem thousands of police special forces are now assaulting Sûr as helicopters patrol overhead.

The most recent attacks follow four days of military curfew. Thousands of civilians have

been trapped in their homes as Turkish forces shell the district with tank fire from the area of Fiskaya. There are also reporters of helicopters firing into the area. At least 20 people, included children as young as 5 years old, have been reported to be seriously injured by shrapnel, and at least three civilians are reported to have been killed thus far.

There are reports that police threw the bomb into the home of a former DBP official in the Cevat Yılmaz neighborhood of Sûr and that children were present, but further details are lacking as communication has been cut of with large parts of the district.

HDP Amed (Diyarbakır) MP Çağlar Demirel has called on the people of Diyarbakır to rise up in protest against the attacks, saying “There is the real danger of a massacre in Sûr and all the people of Diyarbakır should rise up and put a stop to these massacres.”