ANKARA, December 24 Turkish Minister of National Defense Yasar Guler said that during the special operations that began on Saturday night in northern Iraq, 30 militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, banned in the country, were neutralized.
On Saturday night, six Turkish soldiers were killed in northern Iraq as a result of an attack by PKK militants. On Saturday, six more soldiers were killed and one was wounded in clashes with PKK militants in the area of Operation Claw-Castle, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry. The Turkish defense ministry announced military operations in northern Iraq against the PKK after the death of twelve of its soldiers. The top command of the Turkish Ministry of National Defense on Sunday went to the border with Iraq.
“Minister Yashar Güler announced that the number of terrorists neutralized after attacks in the area of Operation Claw-Castle has increased to 30,” the press service of the military department reported.
The armed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party began in Turkey in 1984 and resumed in 2015. In northern Iraq there are PKK bases, against which the Turkish Armed Forces are conducting air and ground operations. The presence of Turkish troops in the Zlikan camp northeast of Mosul has long been a source of contention between Baghdad and Ankara, which justifies the presence as a need to fight Turkey's outlawed PKK.