FILE PHOTO: Turkish soldiers seen at the border town of Akcakale © Reuters / Murad Sezer
Turkey has acknowledged losing two soldiers in recent attacks by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) within the Operation Claw-Lock zone in Iraq’s northern region.
On December 15, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense said that Infantry Commando First Lieutenant Tunahan Yavuz died of wounds he sustained as result of a roadside bomb attack by the PKK. The attack in question took place on December 5.
Later on December 26, the minister mourned Infantry Private Hüseyin Korkmaz who was also killed in an attack by the Kurdish guerilla group.
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- Click to see full-size image. Source: the Turkish Ministry of National Defense.
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- Click to see full-size image. Source: the Turkish Ministry of National Defense.
Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock in northern Iraq mid-April to neutralize the remaining cells of the PKK in the areas of Metina, Zap and Avashin Basyan in the Kurdistan region. The two new casualties brought to 74 the number of Turkish troops killed in the northern Iraqi region since the beginning of the operation.
Late in November, Turkey escalated its strikes on Kurdish forces in Iraq as well as in neighboring Syria in the framework of a new operation codenamed Claw-Sword. The operation was launched in response to the November 13 Istanbul bombing. Ankara blamed the terrorist attack, which killed six and wounded more than 80 others, on the PKK and its Syrian affiliate, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.
Turkey’s recent operations inflicted some heavy losses on the PKK and its affiliates. However, the group is still as active in northern Iraq as before.
