Twelve Turkish soldiers have been killed over two days in separate attacks on bases in northern Iraq, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Turkey’s defense ministry on Saturday.
Turkey has operated several dozen military posts in northern Iraq for the past 25 years in its decades-old war against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group designated by Turkey and much of the international community as a terrorist organization.
Pençe-Kilit Harekâtı bölgesinde 23 Aralık 2023 tarihinde bir üs bölgemize sızmaya çalışan teröristlerle çıkan çatışmada altı kahraman silah arkadaşımız şehit olmuş, bir kahraman silah arkadaşımız da yaralanmıştır.
Çatışmada ilk belirlemelere göre 13 terörist etkisiz hale… pic.twitter.com/gl4h1vaK6i
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) December 23, 2023
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday called for retaliation against “terrorists” in northern Iraq and Syria.
“The blood of our soldiers has not been wasted, the separatist villains will be made to account for the blood they have shed,” he said.
“We will continue with a vengeance to implement our strategy to eliminate terrorism at its source until the last terrorist is eliminated,” he added.
Ankara initially announced the deaths of six soldiers on Saturday, who “fell martyr in a clash with terrorists.”
It later announced six other soldiers were killed in northern Iraq in an earlier attack Friday night, which it attributed to the PKK.
A retaliatory military operation including airstrikes was being carried out in the region, authorities said.
According to Turkish media reports, Friday and Saturday’s attacks occurred near Hakurk and Zap.
In October, Erdoğan vowed to continue stepping up its strikes on “terrorist” targets in Iraq and Syria.
The PKK claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Ankara on October 1 that injured two police officers.