ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish defence ministry on late Friday announced the death of three of its soldiers by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region. Turkey launched the code-named Operation Claw-Lock against the PKK in Duhok province’s mountainous areas in April. The Turkish defence ministry said late Friday that the PKK fighters opened fire at its soldiers in an area covered by the offensive. Three soldiers, including a lieutenant, were killed and another one was injured. Ankara has confirmed the death of dozens of its soldiers in the Kurdistan Region by the PKK since April. The ministry claimed on Saturday that, in what seemed to be a retaliatory attack, they neutralised seven PKK fighters in the same area. Turkey often uses the term “neutralise” to refer to combatants killed or injured on the battlefield. PKK has not commented on either incidents. Ankara launched Operation Claw against the PKK in Khakurk in May 2019. 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. On Sunday, Turkey launched Operation Claw-Sword against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, mostly in Sulaimani province, and the Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria (Rojava) whom Ankara claims are linked to the PKK. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that a ground operation could be followed “soon.”
