A total of 26 Turkish jail inmates died -- 16 of them by setting fire to themselves -- in the country's crackdown on hunger-striking prisoners, a military official told reporters Saturday.
Colonel Ali Aydin, who was flanked at a press conference by Interior Minister Saadettin Tantan, said two members of the security forces also died in the crackdown.
"Sixteen inmates died of self-immolation ordered by their organizations," he said. "Ten inmates who resisted the security forces and responded with arms also died."
"Two paramilitary soldiers were killed by fire opened by inmates," he added.
Security forces stormed some 20 prisons around the country to end a two-month-old hunger strike against a controversial jail reform -- ANKARA (AFP)
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