Six Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with Kurdish PKK fighters in northern Iraq, the Turkish Defence Ministry announced yesterday.

The soldiers came under fire from the separatist terrorist group, the Ministry said, naming the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara classifies as a terrorist organization.

Operations are ongoing in the Kurdish mountainous region in northern Iraq, it added. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences to the families of the dead soldiers.

Since April 2022, Turkey has been conducting the cross-border operation “Forked Sword”, with the aim of eliminating PKK positions in these mountainous and inaccessible areas.

Last Wednesday, Turkish drone strikes killed two PKK members in that area, according to officials in the autonomous Kurdistan region, following a similar incident on Sunday. PKK has been fighting the Turkish authorities since 1984 and these conflicts have left tens of thousands dead.

On the other hand, Ankara maintains dozens of military bases in northern Iraq to conduct tactical operations against Kurdish militants in order to eliminate their presence on its borders.

According to the Turkish Ministry, 586 “terrorists” have been neutralized since the beginning of the year in Operation “Forked Sword” in northern Iraq.

Also read: Turkey | Controlled explosion of artillery shells off Constantinople – VIDEO