was killed in his villa at Beykoz, Istanbul during a raid by the police forces. Okkan played a major role in the crackdown against the Kurdish Hezbollah, in which hundreds of group members were arrested, and more than 150 bodies of murdered victims were found throughout the country. He proved that several unsolved murders had been committed mostly by Hezbollah rebels rather than by security forces. His colleagues and close friends began to warn Okkan to ride in an armored car. He declined such recommendations with the words "What would the citizens do when I ride an armored car?" One week before his death, he released a list of 26 Hezbollah hitmen at a press conference. And, 45 minutes before the attack on him, he stated in an interview with a journalist that he is not afraid of the Hezbollah. He once said nobody could kill him in Diyarbakır or in his hometown Hendek because the citizens would protect him. Assassination On January 24, 2001, Gaffar Okkan left his office at the headquarters for a meeting with the Province Governor Cemil Serhadlı. Around 17:40 local time, as he was underway in his official car escorted by police cars, the convoy was ambushed by unidentified gunmen in a distance of less than from the headquarters in downtown at Sezai Karakoç Boulevard between the Meat & Fish Corp. () building and Eflatun Park. The assailants opened fire with long-barrel rifles and killed Okkan. Three police officers were killed at the spot, two other officers died in a hospital. Four officers were wounded during the attack. The gunmen opened also the door of Okkan's car, and fired a couple of times at point-blank range in order to be sure of his death. There was no mobile phone communication between the assailants, who fled rapidly. Almost 20 bullets hit the police chief’s head. The names of the officers died in the attack were given as Sabri Gün, Mehmet Sepetçi, Atilla Durmuş, Selahattin Baysoy, Mehmet Kamalı and of the officers wounded as Nuri Bozkurt, Mustafa Dince, Veli Göktepe and Fatih Gökçek. It was reported that one of the assailants was apparently injured in the following shootout with police. 469 empty Kalashnikov cartridges were found at the crime scene, fired from 16 different rifles. Police searched the area extensively for perpetrator, and detained several suspects. No militant group claimed responsibility for the assassination. However, the attack