DRK CASE STUDY. Weapon and explosive capabilities of PKK. Weapon and explosive capabilities of PKK in General

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1 DRK CASE STUDY Weapon and explosive capabilities of PKK Weapon and explosive capabilities of PKK in General As an armed rebel group operating in the South Eastern Turkey on the basis of the Guerilla Warfare, PKK have prioritized the advantage of high mobility, agility and concealment during its armed activities. Therefore PKK has been mostly observed to employ light and small arms in their offensive operations while it has been employing heavy arms rather for defensive aims. However, it was also observed especially in number of attacks to military installations along the Iraqi border between the years that PKK employed heavy arms in mass numbers, primary of them being a Russian made heavy anti-aircraft machine gun widely known with the name of Doshka, 82 mm. Mortars and Katyusha (Grad type BM 21 variant) missiles. Apart from this, it is also well known that PKK, although very rarely, employs some shoulder fired, low altitude anti-aircraft missiles against the Turkish air assets during the clashes both in Turkey and Northern Iraq. (SA-7 Strella). Finally, there are some news (not solidly confirmed though) that PKK improved its weapon capacity by obtaining weapons of Free Syrian Army and acquiring some weapons from some European Countries. 1 1 Some news mention that weapons sent by a European country to Northern Iraq to be used in the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants have reportedly fallen into the wrong hands, as the weapons given to Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga troops have been seized by PKK. (Der Spiegel) The report says the weapons seized by the PKK include Milan antitank missiles and DM51A1 cluster hand bombs.

2 PKK Weapon Inventory Weapon & Specialties Visual AK mm. Automatic Infantry Rifle: Effective range of 300 meters 7.62 mm. PKM Machine Gun: Maximum range of 1000 meters 7.62 mm. BKC (PKMS) Machine Gun: Effective range of 1500 meters

3 7.62 mm. Kannas (Dragunov) Anti- Personnel Sniper Rifle: Effective range of 800 meters AMSR (Zagros) anti-material sniper rifle (14.5x115 Soviet made) New propaganda photos from PKK show that the insurgents are employing a new anti-material rifle. The rifles appear to be chambered in a large anti-material caliber, possibly 50 BMG or 14.5x114mm Russian. 12.7x108 mm. Doshka Heavy Anti- Aircraft Machine Gun: Effective range of 2000 meters Maximum range: 3000 meters.

4 KPV-14.5 Heavy Machine Gun: A Soviet designed 14.5x114 mm caliber heavy machine gun, with a range of 3,000 meters horizontally and 2,000 meters vertically against low flying planes. RPG 7B and RPG 11 Rocket Launcher: 40 mm - Effective range of 500 meters Maximum range: 750 meters. Piercing capability: 1,5-2 meter thick concrete wall and mm steel armor. 82 mm. Mortar: Maximum range differs between 5-8 kms depending on the model

5 Above-given weapons have been constantly used by PKK terrorists. Besides this common inventory, some weapons, captured by security forces in southeast Turkey, seems to be added PKK s military stock recently. Ongoing war in Syria and the complexity of actors involved in wars have culminated in ending of aforementioned weapons with PKK. These weapons are listed below. Weapon & Specialties Visual AT4 / M136 Antitank Grenade launcher: Effective range is up to 150 meters against moving targets, about 300 meters against stationary targets. The Metis-M1 portable anti-tank missile system: Effective range: up to 2000 meters.

6 T-40 grenade launcher: T-40 is a single shot weapon that fires 40x46mm low velocity grenades. The effective range against point targets is 150 m. 9K38 Igla - Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS): Effective range of fire is up to 5200 meters. The MILAN portable, medium-range anti-tank missile system: Effective range is up to 2000 meters with armor penetration of 350 millimeters.

7 M16 A2 Assault Rifle: Effective Range is 550 meters for a Point Target, and 800 meters for an Area Target. Due to the war environment in Syria and Iraq, PKK s weapon and ammunition inventory has varied and sophisticated. Recently captured weapons above listed- demonstrates shift from conventional weapons to modern ones. Yet, this is not only because weapons are handed over PKK militants but because arms supplier countries are in close contact with PKK. The origin of weapons are Sweden, Russia, Serbia and United States. In this complex web of relations, PKK is seeking to enhance its military stock with new weapons and ammunition. PKK Explosive employment General PKK has been observed to increasingly employ the explosives in the recent escalation of terrorist attacks after the 7 June 2015 elections. According to the experiences on traditional PKK explosive attacks, a wide variety of explosives such as; Anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, Rocket and artillery shells (obtained generally from Saddam Hussein s army), Kitchen-purpose LPG tubes, Natural fertilizers mixed with fuel oil, TNT or TNT variations obtained by the mixture of nitric acid and glycerin, Variety of mixtures of; alcohol, ammoniac, ammonium nitrate (natural fertilizer), magnesium, sulfuric acid, mercury, glycerin, sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate (derived from natural fertilizer).

8 PKK has also been observed to reinforce the blast effect of above mentioned explosive materials by adding C4 (RDX based Composite 4 plastic material) and A4 plastic explosive into the device installations. Explosion Mechanisms and Methods Remote Controlled (wired) Performed via cable between the triggering mechanism and the detonator. Mostly used on the roads. Remote Controlled (wireless) These mechanisms are very largely applied by PKK by establishing two receiver/transmitter radio devices between the triggering mechanism and the detonator. Mostly used on the roads. Remote Controlled (mixture of wired and wireless mechanisms) These mechanisms are also largely applied by PKK in order to avoid the preventive effects of the Jammers having largely been used by Turkish Army. Mostly used on the roads. In this variation, the receiver antenna in the mechanism is extended by a cable several hundred meters beyond the effective range of the jammer devices.

9 Time fused self destructive Mostly being used in the sabotage attacks performed generally with carloaded explosives. The amount of the explosive used has been observed to exceed up to two tons of improvised mixtures of ammonium nitrate (natural fertilizer), magnesium, sulfuric acid,.mercury, glycerin, sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate etc., being reinforced with A4 or C4 type plastic explosives to speed up the explosive chain and to increase the blast effect. Collision based (quick time) self-destructive Mostly being used in the sabotage attacks performed generally with car-loaded explosives. The amount of the explosive used has been observed to exceed up to two tons of improvised mixtures of ammonium nitrate (natural fertilizer), magnesium, sulfuric acid, mercury, glycerin, sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate etc., being reinforced with A4 or C4 type plastic explosives to speed up the explosive chain and to increase the blast effect. Some examples of PKK instruction notes on the production of these materials are provided in the below figures.