Three Turkish soldiers killed in Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish Defense Ministry on Friday night announced that three of its soldiers were killed by the longstanding foe of Ankara, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), during an operation against the militant group in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

The soldiers were killed in Operation Claw-Lock which targets the alleged positions of the Kurdish militants in the mountainous areas of the Kurdish region.

A lieutenant is among those killed by the PKK, according to the defense ministry, adding another soldier has been injured.

Turkey last week conducted airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria as part of its newly launched air operation dubbed Claw-Sword Operation.

Blaming Istanbul’s Nov. blast on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Turkey’s president threatened to launch a new ground operation in northeast Syria. The Kurdish-led forces have categorically denied any involvement in the deadly bombing.

Kurdistan Region officials have repeatedly called on the warring sides, Turkey and the PKK, to take their fights away from the civilian areas, as they have endangered their safety and livelihoods.

In one artillery shelling that Baghdad blamed on Ankara, at least nine Iraqi tourists were killed at a resort in the Duhok province’s Zakho district in Summer. Turkey denied it had carried out the shelling.