Turkey ‘neutralizes’ 43 terrorists over past week

Turkish security forces have neutralized 43 terrorists including a so-called senior operative in counter-terrorism operations across Turkey over the past week, the country's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralize" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

The statement said that the operations were conducted on Jan. 18-25 in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakır, Şırnak, and Mardin provinces, and the eastern Muş and Bitlis provinces, neutralizing 43 terrorists, including one so-called senior operative.

During the operations, Turkish forces also confiscated eight infantry rifles, 961 pieces of small arms ammunition, eight hand grenades, an antitank weapon, 23 hand-made explosives, 35 kilograms (77 pounds) of ammonium nitrate, and four kg (9 lb.) of C-4 explosives.

Thirty-eight weapon pits, shelters, and depots belonging to the terrorists were also destroyed.