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8 soldiers were killed and 2 others injured in an attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southern Turkish province of Batman on October 4.
The Batman Governor’s Office stated that “the terrorists [the PKK is a designated terrorist group in Turkey] detonated an improvised explosive planted in the road when an armored military vehicle was passing through the rural area of Gercüş district.”
Turkish authorities responded to the attack by kicking off a security operation in the area.
Commenting on the situation, Turkish Parliament Speaker Binali Yildirim stated that Turkey will get rid of the PKK.
On the same day, the Turkish military revealed that 10 PKK members were “neutralized” in airstrikes on the group’s positions in the northern Iraqi areas of Avasin-Basyan and Zap.
The PKK is a Kurdish separatist militant group opreating in southern Turkey, northern Iraq and northern Syria. The group seeks to establish an independent Kurdish state within the territory of Turkey and, if it’s possible, include areas of northern Syria and northern Iraq into it.
Ankara says that the US is actively supporting and arming the PKK local branch in Syria known as the YPG. From its side, the YPG officially denies that it’s a “branch” of the PKK. However, the group’s close ties to the PKK are an open secret.
