5 Turkish soldiers were killed in the conflict With the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Kurdish guerrilla Türkiye, In northern Iraq, the Turkish Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.
The clash occurred Wednesday during the “Claw Lock” operation, which the Turkish army launched in April 2022 in northern Iraq, where the PKK’s shelters and rear bastions are located.
According to the Turkish press, two soldiers were martyred in the armed conflict, and three seriously injured soldiers died in the hospital where they were taken earlier today.
With the “Claw Lock” operation, Ankara He expanded the series of military interventions he called “The Claw”. and since 2019 it was launched in a border strip approximately 30 kilometers south of the Turkish border, in mountainous terrain in Iraq where the PKK’s caves, tunnel systems, ammunition depots and rear posts are located.
so far this yearincluding today’s losses, 16 Turkish soldiers were martyred in this region. Five of them during the month of July.
In recent years, conflicts between the Turkish armed forces and the PKK have almost always taken place in northern Iraq, with very little conflict on Turkish soil.
According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense, so far this year the Turkish army has caused More than 900 casualties to PKK in Northern Iraq and Kurdish militias in Northern Iraq Syria.
Ankara generally does not admit that its attacks also resulted in civilian victims, as condemned by the Iraqi Government and Kurdish organizations in that country and Syria.
The Iraqi Government has repeatedly condemned that these “unilateral” attacks undermine the country’s sovereignty, have no legal justification, and even summoned the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad several times to protest these actions.