Five Turkish soldiers were killed and two others injured on Tuesday in an operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the Turkish defence ministry said.
Three soldiers were killed and four wounded in a rocket launch attack by the PKK in the ongoing operation dubbed Claw-Lock, and two of the wounded later died at a hospital, according to a ministry statement.
Meanwhile, Turkish security forces killed seven members of Syria’s Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, the ministry claimed earlier in the day. Ankara claims that the YPG are the Syrian branch of the outlawed PKK.
In April, Turkey launched the ground and air military offensive in northern Iraq against the PKK’s targets in Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions.
Turkey regularly conducts cross-border operations on the PKK bases in northern Iraq. The Kurdish opposition party, PKK, is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and has been rebelling against the government for over 30 years.
Iraq has repeatedly condemned the Turkish operation on its land as a violation of its sovereignty.
