Turkey says soldier died during anti-PKK operation in Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Turkish Ministry of Defense on Saturday announced that a soldier has died after suffering injuries sustained from a helicopter blade hit during a military operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq's Kurdistan Region.

Enes Kirmizikoc was admitted to a hospital, where he received medical attention, but his life could not be saved despite interventions, the ministry said.

The soldier is from the Kurdish-majority Van Province in Turkey, Turkish-state media Anadolu Agency reported on Saturday.

The Ministry did not elaborate further details on the incident that led to the soldier’s death.

Turkey’s latest military operation against the PKK, against which it has been fighting since the mid-1980s, dubbed Claw-Lock Operation, targets the alleged position of the Kurdish militant groups inside Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

At least three other Turkish soldiers have been killed in the fight against the group in July, per the announcement the Ministry published.

Both warring sides usually release an inflated number of causalities. Kurdistan 24 has been unable to independently verify those figures.

Bolstered by its advanced drone industry, Turkey has recently ramped up its aerial attacks on the alleged PKK targets in urban sites in the Kurdistan Region, where a number of the group’s militants have so far been assassinated.

Previously, a military drone bearing Turkish flags on its wings was found crashed in a rural area of Sulaimani province last week. Turkish defense officials have not commented on the incident.