ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s defense ministry on Saturday announced that six more soldiers were killed in clashes with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region, bringing the death toll to 12 Turkish soldiers killed within 24 hours.
Skirmishes on Saturday broke out after PKK fighters tried to infiltrate a base of the Turkish army in what Turkey calls the Operation Claw-Lock region, which encompasses Metina, Zap, Avashin, and Basyan areas in northern Duhok province, according to a statement from the Turkish ministry.
Six Turkish soldiers were killed, one was injured, and 13 PKK members were “neutralized” in the clash. Turkey uses the term “neutralize” to denote adversaries captured, wounded, or killed.
Six other Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes on Friday.
“Contact continues in the region. Sudden air operations are also carried out against specified targets,” the ministry said.
Ali Riza Guney, Turkey's ambassador to Iraq, on Saturday evening tweeted 12 Turkish flag emojis, an apparent symbolization of the soldiers killed in the past two days.
🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷
— Ali Rıza GÜNEY (@alirizaguney_tc) December 23, 2023
Clashes between the two sides also occurred in other parts of Duhok on Saturday, including in Amedi’s Deraluk subdistrict, where live bullets hit several civilian homes, causing concern for the locals.
“Heavy fighting broke out between the PKK and the Turkish army and continued for an hour,” Sherwan Sargali, a Deraluk resident, told Rudaw of Saturday’s clashes, adding that there were no casualties in the village.
Both the PKK and Turkey have recently increased their attacks on the other in the Kurdistan Region.
Firat News Agency (ANF), a media outlet linked to the PKK, said on Saturday that the PKK carried out an attack on the Turkish army in the Khakurk area of the Kurdistan Region, killing 27 Turkish soldiers and seizing the weapons of 17 others.
On Wednesday, the Turkish defense ministry announced that it carried out airstrikes against 14 alleged positions of the PKK in mountainous areas where the group has bases.
Ankara has in the past few years intensified its campaign against the PKK, launching several operations in the Kurdistan Region as well as Syria where it claims to target alleged proxies of the group.
In 2019, Turkey launched Operation Claw against the PKK in Khakurk. This was followed by Operation Claw-Tiger in June 2020. The third edition of the offensive was a ground and air cross-border operation, dubbed Operation Claw-Lightning and Operation Claw-Thunderbolt, launched in April 2021. All of these operations focused on the PKK’s positions in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province.
Turkey sent its army back into the Kurdistan Region in April of last year, launching Operation Claw-Lock with the goal of targeting PKK positions in Metina, Zap, Avashin, and Basyan areas in northern Duhok province. The operation, according to Ankara, aims to remove the PKK from the border area and cut off its access to Turkey.
