Turkish soldier in Iraq killed fighting PKK
The deadly attack took place in the autonomous Kurdistan Region near the Turkish border, and followed the deaths of two Turkish soldiers in Syria over the weekend.
A Turkish soldier was killed fighting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq on Monday.
The soldier died when the PKK attacked Turkish forces doing a road patrol in the Hakurk area, Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency reported. Hakurk is near the Turkish border in the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq.
Turkey’s Defense Ministry identified the soldier as Sgt. Halil Celebi, who was a member of the infantry, according to the statement.
The PKK fights for greater Kurdish rights in Turkey. It has long based itself on the mountainous border between the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Turkey. Both Turkey and the United States consider the PKK a terrorist group, and Turkey regularly conducts operations against the group in northern Iraq and northeast Syria.
