The Turkish Defense Ministry announced the deaths of 12 of its soldiers on Saturday. According to the statement, the casualties occurred during deadly skirmishes with Kurdish forces in northern Iraq over the weekend.
Ankara claims that six soldiers were slain on Friday while an additional six were killed on Saturday after Kurdish forces attempted to infiltrate a Turkish base. Authorities also note that 13 of the invading fighters were “neutralized” during Saturday’s firefight, while four Kurdish guerrillas were killed by Turkish forces on Friday.
The statement alleges the fighters belonged to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a paramilitary separatist group intent on creating an independent Kurdistan through armed resistance. Turkish forces have been engaged in open combat operations against the PKK since the 1980s.
Saturday’s report follows an announcement from earlier in the week in which Turkey revealed that its air force had conducted several strikes on what it claims were PKK military outposts and infrastructure.
Kurdish insurgent groups, such as the PKK, operate across a swath of territory that includes Kurdish-majority areas in parts of southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, and northern Iraq. Most of Turkey’s military actions against the group are in northern Iraq, where Turkish authorities argue that the PKK’s power base and leadership are located.
Internationally, the PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union.