ISTANBUL, July 3 – A wildfire killed a second person in Turkey’s western Izmir province on Tuesday as blazes raged for a seventh day across several regions, while a little-known group claiming ties to Kurdish militants said it was behind dozens of arson attacks.
The latest casualty was a backhoe operator, Ibrahim Demir, who died while battling the flames in the Odemis district, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Earlier, an 81-year-old bedridden man who was home alone in the same area died when fire reached his house, marking the first death since the fires began.
A group calling itself “Children of Fire” claimed responsibility for “tens of fires across six Turkish cities”, according to a statement shared online.
The group, which is little known, says it is affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union. The PKK, which said in May that it was ending a 40-year insurgency and disbanding, has not commented on the claim.
Firefighters continued to battle flames with helicopters and planes dropping water over mountainous terrain in Izmir, while authorities closed some roads to the Aegean resort town of Cesme, Anadolu said.
Broadcasters showed footage of flames lining the main highway as water tankers arrived.
Turkey, Greece and other countries in the Mediterranean are in an area scientists dub “a wildfire hotspot” – with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate.
Wildfires across Turkey’s west have damaged around 200 homes and victims have been provided alternative accommodation, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. Some 50,000 people were temporarily evacuated earlier this week from areas of fires fuelled by high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds.
New fires also broke out on Thursday in the southern resort province of Antalya and in forested areas near Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, Anadolu said. Authorities have managed to contain several of the blazes.
REUTERS
