Six Turkish soldiers killed in attack on military base in Iraq

Six Turkish soldiers were killed, and another was injured in an attack targeting a Turkish military base in northern Iraq, according to what the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday.

The Ministry confirmed that the Turkish military base located near Hakurk in northern Iraq was attacked on Friday evening by members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara and its Western allies classify as a terrorist organization.

The authorities announced a military operation in the area in response to the attack.

The Turkish army is constantly launching ground and air military operations against PKK fighters and their positions in northern Iraq, in the autonomous Kurdistan region, or the mountainous Sinjar region.

For 25 years, Turkey has been establishing military bases in northern Iraq to confront the PKK rebels, who have training camps and rear bases in the region.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has been waging an armed conflict against the Turkish authorities since 1984, claimed responsibility in October for an attack that targeted the Interior Ministry headquarters in Ankara, wounding two police officers.

AFP