DIYARBAKIR: At least nine people were killed and two others injured amid a shootout between two families fighting over prized agricultural land in the Kurdish-majority area in southeast Turkiye, a local official said Thursday.
The disputed fields in Diyarbakir province were set on fire after the shooting, with flames starting to spread on Thursday, a journalist from the AFP reported from the region.
Soon after the incident, three survivors from the clash sight were taken to hospital, where one of them succumbed to injuries, taking the death toll to nine, the governor’s office said in a statement.
Images showed the bodies of six men lying in a field of harvested wheat, at least three of whom had Kalashnikov rifles. According to officials security measures across the province were stepped up, after the incident.
Land Disputes in Southeast Turkiye
Governor Diyarbakir Ali Ihsan Su mentioned that the disputed fields covered 200,000 square meters (50 acres) adding that the area witnessed such land disputes in the past, where most of the people in the area have farming as their major source of income.
