ANKARA — Six Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with Kurdish militants in northern Iraq this week, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Thursday as the fighting between Turkish forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) escalated in the region.
The ministry said the four PKK militants were killed after the group’s bases came under fire in a counterstrike that led to the killing of Turkish soldiers. The deaths can’t yet be independently verified. The clashes took place as part of Turkey’s series of cross-border military operations — dubbed “Claw Lock” — in northern Iraq’s Avasin, Metina and Zap regions.
The Turkish military operation in Iraqi territory has been a source of tension between Ankara and Baghdad, which accuses Turkey of violating Iraq's sovereignty and causing civilian casualties.
According to pro-PKK news channel Medya News, on Wednesday one civilian was killed and another wounded in a Turkish drone strike near the northern Iraqi province of Sulaimaniyah, which is under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two dominant political parties in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. The report couldn't be verified independently.
