PKK kills five Turkish soldiers

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters killed at least five Turkish soldiers and wounded another in roadside attacks in the Kurdish provinces of Kars, Sirnak, and Bitlis on Tuesday.

Turkish army reinforced with air support in the regions where the attacks occurred, state-funded Anadolu news agency reported.

In Sirnak an IED explosion targeted Turkish troops who were patrolling an area near the village of Arnac on the border with Kurdistan Region and wounded two who later died at a local hospital.

In Kars, a similar attack on a road killed two Turkish soldiers and wounded another in Kagizman district near the border with Armenia.

Sergeants were traveling from Kars to the neighboring Erzurum province, army sources were quoted saying.

Later in the day a mine planted in a rural area in Bitlis killed another Turkish soldier while wounding one.

In separate incidents 13 PKK fighters were killed in clashes, Turkish media reported.

The PKK attacks came as overnight Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq killed at least 20 People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters and five Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga soldiers.

Turkey’s army claimed to have killed 40 in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Shingal (Sinjar) district and 30 others at a YPG base in Syrian Kurdistan.

Kurdish sources have not corroborated the Turkish figures.

Editing by Ava Homa