Turkey, PKK publish casualty statistics for ongoing Kurdistan Region operation

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have released conflicting casualty figures for an ongoing military operation in the Kurdistan Region, seven months after Ankara launched the operation targeting PKK positions.

The Turkish defense ministry on Sunday claimed that 455 PKK fighters were "neutralized" in seven months of the operation, dubbed Claw-Lock, adding that 557 caves used as shelters by the Kurdish armed group were "rendered unusable" and thousands of explosive mines were destroyed.

Turkey often uses the term “neutralize” to refer to combatants killed or injured on the battlefield.

The People's Defense Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the PKK, stated that 2,544 "invading" soldiers of the Turkish army were killed, and a further 366 were injured during the scope of the operation, while reiterating concerning claims that Ankara is using chemical weapons in the ongoing clashes, according to a statement from the group on Tuesday.

Operation Claw-Lock was launched by Turkey on April 18, with the goal of targeting PKK positions Metina, Zap, Avashin, and Basyan areas in northern Duhok province along the Turkish border. The operation aims to remove the PKK from the bordering areas and cut off its access to mainland Turkey.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Sunday said that the operation is nearing its final stages and that Ankara is close to achieving victory.

"We are approaching the end, as the entire Claw-Lock Operation Area is about to be taken under control. We will clear Zap from terrorists and thus lock up all our borders," Akar stated, referring to Zap area in Duhok province – the last remaining pathway for the PKK from the Kurdistan Region into Turkey.

The PKK is a Kurdish armed group struggling for the increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey and is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara, which has launched several cross-border operations southward in the Kurdistan Region targeting positions of the group.

Last month, the PKK-affiliated Firat News Agency (ANF) published several videos purportedly showing Turkish soldiers targeting its fighters with chemical weapons, adding that Turkey has used banned bombs and chemical substances at least 2,476 times since April.

The Turkish defense ministry later deemed the claims that its soldiers used chemical weapons against the PKK "completely baseless and untrue."

A deadly blast in Istanbul on Sunday which killed six and injured at least 81 was attributed to the PKK by the Turkish interior ministry, accusing the group and its alleged Syrian proxies – the People's Protection Units (YPG) – of carrying out the attack after arresting a suspect who allegedly confessed to being trained by the YPG to conduct the attack.

The PKK denied responsibility for the deadly bombing the next day, saying "we have nothing to do with this incident and it is well-known by the public that we would not target civilians directly or approve of actions directed at civilians," and the YPG also denied involvement while expressing condolences to the victims' families.

More than 500 villages have been emptied in the Kurdistan Region over three decades of the Turkey-PKK conflict.