Turkey says two troops killed in Kurdistan Region

Another was wounded in clashes with PKK fighters.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - The Turkish army on Thursday announced the killing of two soldiers and wounding of another in clashes with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas inside the Kurdistan Region.

In a press release, the army's general staff said fighting erupted in the Avashin-Basyan area of the Duhok Province near the border with Turkey.

The Turkish army did not specify what time the clashes broke out with the banned group fighting for a Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey.

It also did not reveal if there was a military incursion into Kurdistan as it has done several times in the past weeks or whether the casualties were stationed at one of a dozen bases already inside the region.

Turkish army also on Wednesday lost a soldier in clashes in Duhok's Gara Mountain. Three others were injured while three PKK fighters were killed, said the army.

PKK has not confirmed the latest clashes or any casualties.

Last month, four Turkish soldiers were killed near the area where they began making more incursions in hot pursuit of PKK fighters in the aftermath of Kurdistan Region's September referendum on independence from Iraq.

Ankara has been staging an air campaign on PKK targets inside Turkey and abroad in Kurdistan Region where the group is headquartered in the Qandil mountains straddling along Iraq-Iran border.

On Tuesday, an aerial bombing killed a civilian, Indad Ari Bradosti (38) who was driving his vehicle on a rural road in Galiyeresh of the Erbil province.

 

Editing by Sam A.