A new statement from the Turkish military is claiming at least 42 PKK fighters were killed in the past two days in fighting and airstrikes both in southeastern Turkey and in northern Iraq. Three Turkish soldiers were also killed.
The fighting centered on the Hakkari Province in Turkey, while airstrikes targeted the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq, where Turkish officials claimed to have hit caves full of PKK fighters and gun positions.
Turkey has been fighting a war against the PKK off and on since 1984. Turkey scrapped a multi-year ceasefire with the PKK last year, amid attempts by the ruling AKP party to court nationalists for a coalition government. This ultimately failed, but the war has continued.
Since the ceasefire was abandoned last July, Turkish officials have claimed well over 5,000 PKK fighters to have been killed. This figure is disputed, as many of the claimed “PKK” fighters are said to have simply been Kurdish civilians.