One soldier was killed in a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attack in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Sunday.
According to a statement by the Hakkari Governor’s Office on Sunday, PKK terrorists attacked a military vehicle in the Kovan Tepe area near the Iraqi border in Çukurca on Sunday, seriously injuring a soldier. The soldier died at Hakkari State Hospital where he was taken for treatment. A manhunt was launched to capture the PKK militants who fled the area.
In another statement on the same day, the Hakkari Governor’s Office also said four PKK militants were killed by security forces in an armed drone strike.
Turkish authorities had conducted direct talks with jailed PKK chief Abdullah Öcalan for several years until a truce in effect collapsed in the summer of 2015. Since then, there have been heavy clashes between the PKK and Turkish security forces.
More than 40,000 people, including 5,500 security force members, have been killed in four decades of fighting between the Turkish state and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.