Three soldiers and two village guards were killed in clashes with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists in the southeastern provinces of Hakkari and Ağrı, Turkish media reported.
Three PKK members and one soldier were killed and four soldiers were injured in skirmishes in the Çukurca district of Hakkari.
Two soldiers and two village guards were killed and eight soldiers were injured during operations against PKK members in the Doğubayazıt district of Ağrı on Thursday, the Ağrı Governor’s Office stated on Friday. According to the statement 10 PKK terrorists were killed in the same clashes.
The Turkish military on Friday announced that 63 terrorists were “neutralized” during operations in Hakkari, Şırnak, Mardin, Siirt and Diyarbakır provinces between Sept. 21 and 27.
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.