Turkish army neutralizes four PKK militants, seizes weapons

Shafaq News/ The Turkish Ministry of Defense neutralized, on Sunday, four members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and Syria.

According to a statement from the Turkish Ministry of Defense, Turkish forces neutralized two PKK militants in the Operation Claw-Lock area in northern Iraq and two more in the Euphrates Shield operation zone in northern Syria

The Turkish Ministry of Defense did not provide any further details.

Notably, Turkiye uses the term “neutralize” to indicate that a PKK member has been killed, injured, or captured.

In addition, the Turkish Ministry of Defense revealed, in another statement that the army seized weapons and military equipment in a cave believed to be a PKK hideout in Duhok, in the Iraqi Kurdistan. Items confiscated include hand grenades, ammunition, a binocular, a hard drive, 2 mobile phones, a camera, a sniper camouflage suit, a thermal suit, and 7 gas masks.

The PKK, labeled a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States, and the European Union, has been waging an armed insurgency against the Turkish government since the 1980s in pursuit of greater autonomy for Kurds in Turkiye. This prolonged conflict has resulted in tens of thousands of fatalities, prompting Turkiye to carry out cross-border military operations targeting PKK bases in Iraq and YPG forces in Syria, which Ankara considers offshoots of the PKK.