ISTANBUL: A Turkish soldier was killed today in a clash with rebels from the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and Turkish air strikes killed many fighters, the defence ministry said.
The air strikes also destroyed 21 PKK targets, the ministry said in a statement without elaborating.
Ankara uses the term “neutralised” to mean killed.
The soldier was killed in a clash in Gara region and Turkish air forces targeted PKK bases in Gara, Hakurk, Metina and Qandil, the ministry said.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.
Turkey has conducted years of cross-border military operations against militants that have left roughly half the Syrian territory bordering Turkey and all of Iraqi territory bordering Turkey controlled or overseen by Turkey’s military.