Reşadiye shooting
The Reşadiye shooting was an ambush that took place on December 7, 2009, at Reşadiye, Tokat Province, Turkey. Unidentified gunmen ambushed a Turkish patrol, killing seven soldiers and wounding three others. It was the region's deadliest attack in more than a decade, since the Sazak assault in 1997; and most recent attack in Turkey since April, 2009 when a remote-controlled bomb set by Kurdish militants killed 10 soldiers in the country's southeast. The last major attack in Tokat was in 2001.
Reşadiye shooting | |||||||
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Part of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict | |||||||
Districts of Tokat province | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Turkey | Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Harun Aslanbaş † | Celal Başkale | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
50 | 7 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
7 killed, 3 injured | none |
The ambush occurred as Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was received in Washington, D.C., by U.S. President Barack Obama and occurred the day before a court was due to consider outlawing Turkey's Democratic Society Party (DTP), the largest Kurdish party in the country. The threat of parliamentary resignations and a potential election lingered in the air. The Turkish army said on their website that they would maintain a presence in the area.