Seventeen-year-old Murat Polat lost his life because of explosion of a howitzer left by soldiers in Yukarý Akça Gedik Village in Erciþ, a district of Van.

Polat took out his family’s herds to pasture around the village near Akça Gedik Gendarmerie Station where he found the explosive. Bringing the explosive to his home, Polat fiddled around with it in another room at his home. Following a powerful explosion, Polat was taken to the Erciþ State Hospital where he died despite immediate medical response.

According to the locals, six months ago villagers warned soldiers to not shoot howitzers since the village very close to the gendarmerie station’s range. Military authority responded them that villagers do not need to complain about shootings until somebody dies.

Father Mehmet Polat asked government to find and punish those responsible while residents began to gather in front of hospital in Van.