Turkey says it ‘neutralised’ 32 Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria

Turkey’s military has ‘neutralised’ 23 Kurdish militants in northern Iraq and nine in northern Syria, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday (January 13), a day after nine Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes, Reuters reports.

 

The ministry said Turkish forces carried out air strikes in northern Iraq and northern Syria, and its ground forces bombarded the two regions. Ankara typically uses the term ‘neutralised’ to mean killed.

 

Nine Turkish soldiers were killed and four others were wounded in Friday’s (January 12) clash with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq, the ministry said after the incident.

 

Turkish forces have been carrying out a cross-border operation called “Claw-Lock” in Iraq as part of the country’s offensive against PKK militants. The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.