ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish security forces claimed Sunday to have “neutralized” 14 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters in domestic and cross-border operations against the Kurdish group, who on the same day claimed the deaths of eight Turkish soldiers in recent clashes.
Turkey is currently conducting the third phase of Operation Claw in the Kurdistan Region’s Haftanin and Sinat regions.
“In the framework of [Operation] Claw 3 - which continues successfully - in Haftanin region, our air forces targeted the PKK separatist terrorist organization’s members and neutralized seven,” read a statement on the Turkish defense ministry’s Twitter account.
Turkey uses the term “neutralized” to denote adversaries captured, wounded, or killed in combat.
The PKK claimed the death of three Turkish soldiers in the same clash, reported the PKK-affiliated ANF.
Clashes between the two sides within the Kurdistan Region, where the PKK are currently headquartered, have intensified with the launch of Operation Claw by Turkey in late May.
Turkish forces have employed an extensive range of weaponry including warplanes and drones to target PKK fighters in the rugged mountainous terrain.
As part of Operation Kiran, being conducted by Turkish forces in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey, seven PKK guerrillas were “neutralized” in Siirt province, the Turkish interior ministry said on Sunday.
There was no immediate PKK statement on the incident in Siirt. However, the group claimed the death of five Turkish soldiers in a clash in Hakkari province on Friday.
“As part of the Martyr Medya Mawa and Martyr Rızgar Vengeance Campaign, our forces hit Turkish soldiers stationed around a watch tower of Zerine outpost in Hakkari’s Esendere district at 12:40 on September 20. One soldier was killed here,” it said on Sunday via ANF, adding that two more soldiers were killed when they arrived at the scene.
Regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, the PKK have been locked in a nearly four-decade, sometimes-armed conflict with Turkish state, resulting in the death of about 40,000 people, including civilians.
According to data gathered by the state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA) and published on Thursday, 396 PKK fighters have been “neutralized” in the last three months, while 28 Turkish security forces members and eight civilians have been killed.
While fighting between the two sides occurs almost daily, the intensity of clashes often varies according to the political atmosphere in Turkey, particularly with regards to the Kurdish question.
