Four Turkish soldiers killed, wounded by PKK in Kurdistan Region: Military

Two Turkish soldiers were killed and two more wounded in the Kurdistan Region following an attack on Monday, Turkey’s military said on Tuesday.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Two Turkish soldiers were killed and two more wounded in the Kurdistan Region following an attack on Monday, Turkey’s military said on Tuesday.

In a statement, it said that the casualties came following a mortar attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the mountainous areas of the region, located along Turkey’s border.

Military officials added that the Turkish warplanes struck PKK positions in the area after the attacks by the armed Kurdish group.

PKK-affiliated media announced that they had killed over 10 Turkish soldiers in the region, adding to claims made last week that it had killed five.

Over the past few months, Turkey has launched a cross-border military operation against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region. In some places, Turkish forces have crossed 20 km into the region to target the PKK.

The PKK is a designated ‘terrorist’ organization in Turkey, the EU, and the US.

The group took up arms in the 1980s to demand rights for Kurdish citizens in a conflict that has claimed some 40,000 lives on both sides. Violence has escalated since the collapse of a peace process between them in the summer of 2015.

Editing by John J. Catherine