SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Three Turkish soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) blew up near the country’s border with Syria, Turkey’s defense ministry said on Saturday.
In a statement, the Turkish defense ministry said the soldiers were killed in Akcakale district in Sanliurfa province on the border with Syria, according to state-owned agency Anadolu.
The minister further said around 12 fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) were “neutralized” by the Turkish forces in the area.
Turkey uses “neutralize” term for targets who have been killed or wounded.
Ankara considers the YPG a “terrorist group” closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), fighting a decades-old insurgency in southeast Turkey.
Turkish forces have launched three incursions in the last five years, seizing hundreds of kilometers of border strip and pushing around 30 km (20 miles) into northern Syria.
