ISTANBUL: At least six Turkish soldiers were killed during clashes with outlawed Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Thursday.
The soldiers were killed by fire from “the separatist terror organization,” it added, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK listed as a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies.
The conflict took place in Zap region, where Turkiye has been carrying out a cross-border operation called “Claw-Lock.”
Operations continue in the region, the ministry said.
Turkiye launched Claw-Lock in April 2022 to eradicate members of the PKK holed up in mountainous areas along the frontier.
On Wednesday, separate Turkish drone strikes killed two PKK members in northern Iraq, officials in the autonomous Kurdistan region said, following a similar incident on Sunday.
Ankara maintains dozens of military bases in northern Iraq where it regularly launches operations against PKK fighters.
Ankara says the offensive is a measure to prevent the PKK from using Iraq as a base to carry out attacks in Turkiye.
The PKK has large fortifications around the region, where “the terrain is very tough,” but the region will be “cleared up from terrorists” despite attacks, a Turkish official said.
The PKK launched an insurgency in southeast Turkiye in 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.
As part of the “Operation Claw-Lock,” 586 militants have been “neutralized” to date, the Defense Ministry said.
