An explosion occurred as an armoured military vehicle passed on the Yüksekova-Şemdinli highway yesterday at noon. After the explosion near the village of Aşağı Ölçek (Yêkmala Jêri), all roads between the surrounding villages, Yüksekova and Şemdinli were closed to vehicular traffic for 8 hours.

TORTURE UNDER DETENTION

Turkish soldiers, who carried out an investigation in the area of the explosion, detained nearly 10 villagers and two shepherds living in the surrounding Çukurca (Pagê) and Aşağı Ölçek (Yêkmala Jêri) villages in the evening. While the villagers were released late last night, shepherds Levent Er and Harun Geçirgen are still in custody. It is reported that the shepherds were subjected to torture under detention. Yüksekova District Police Department summoned Azad Geçirgen and 2 other people whose names were not determined to testify regarding the incident.

The detained shepherds and 3 people who went to the police headquarters to testify are not allowed to meet their lawyers.