Fresh curfew declared in southeastern town of ?dil

An indeterminate curfew has been declared in the southeastern Turkish town of ?dil days after the country's interior minister signaled an expansion of military operations against militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The round-the-clock curfew was reported to take effect in downtown ?dil, a district in the southeastern ??rnak province, and the district's Dirsekli village starting from 11 p.m. on Feb. 16, the ??rnak Governor's Office said on Feb. 16 in a written statement. The curfew would be put into effect to capture PKK militants (referred to as "members of the separatist terrorist organization" by government institutions) as well as remove barricades and trenches "with explosives hidden inside as well as to assure security of our people," the governor's office said.

PKK militants reportedly detonated explosives placed under a road connecting ?dil and Midyat, a district in the southeastern province of Mardin, early Feb. 16, leaving no casualties when the curfew was announced. A military operation was launched to capture the perpetrators of the explosion.

Though the curfew was just announced, the first sign that ?dil would soon be the site of military operations came when the Education Ministry "invited" around 1,200 teachers working in the district to come to a seminar in Istanbul via text message, just as was done in Silopi, Sur and Cizre before curfews were announced and operations launched.

Cizre and Silopi, two districts in the southeastern province of ??rnak, as well as Sur, a district in the southeastern province of Diyarbak?r, have been experiencing round-the-clock or partial curfews since early December 2015.

"There are terrorists in ?dil, as well," Turkish Interor Minister Efkan Ala told...