ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A fifth Turkish soldier has been killed in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Turkey's defence ministry announced in a statement late on Sunday night, almost a month since Ankara began air and ground operations against alleged Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) sites in the area.
Though the statement did not provide a location of death, the soldier was part of Turkey's Operation Claw-Tiger ground offensive, taking place in the Haftanin area of the Kurdistan Region.
The soldier was killed on July 12 and died after hospitalisation, the statement read. Three members of the PKK were "neutralised" in the clashes, it added. Ankara uses the term "neutralised" to denote the killing, injury or capture of its enemy forces.
Turkey launch air offensive Operation Claw-Eagle on June 15, with the stated aim of targeting PKK bases in the Kurdistan Region. It launched commando-led ground offensive Operation Claw-Tiger in Haftanin two days later. At least five civilians in the Kurdistan Region have been killed by Turkish airstrikes so far.
The People's Defence Forces - the PKK military wing known by its Kurdish acronym, HPG - announced Sunday that it had killed 16 Turkish soldiers in Haftanin in the space of three days. On Sunday alone, 13 Turkish soldiers were "punished", as the HPG statement termed their killing.
Turkey has conducted airstrikes and ground operations against the PKK within Iraq’s borders for years, accusing the governments of federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of failing to take adequate measures against the group.
Both Erbil and Baghdad have repeatedly called on Ankara to halt its attacks and the violation of its sovereignty, and have demanded the PKK withdraw from their territory.
Iraqi security analyst Husham al-Hashimi last month put the number of PKK fighters in Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, at between 8,500 and 10,000, distributed across 81 points and bases.
Ankara said last week that its forces have established almost 40 “military points” in the Kurdistan Region - including one each in the cities of Erbil, Duhok, Soran and Zakho. The map was later deleted.
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