SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Nine Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region this week, the group’s military wing said on Sunday.
The People’s Defense Forces (HPG) said its fighters attacked a Turkish military point in Avashin area on Saturday, killing four soldiers and injuring two others.
Separately, the HPG fighters attacked the Turkish military near Kordina village in Matina region on Sunday as it was trying to build roads to enter the area, it said in a statement.
Five more soldiers were killed in the attack, it added.
Turkey has yet to confirm the casualties, but it said on Sunday that a soldier was killed in an attack carried out by “separatist terrorists” on a Turkish military vehicle that was leaving a base in northern Iraq.
Another soldier was wounded, the Turkish defense ministry said.
Turkey has taken its decades-old conflict with the PKK deep into the Kurdistan Region, establishing military bases and deploying armed military drones against the fighters in their mountain strongholds.
Most of the operations have focused on territory up to 30 km (20 miles) from the border.
