ANKARA: Three Turkish soldiers were killed and seven were wounded in a clash with Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, the Turkish defence ministry said on Sunday.

The statement came after Turkey on Friday launched the third phase of an operation begun in May to root out fighters of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in the region.

It did not specify the location of the clashes.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the European Union and the United States, has rear bases in northern Iraq.

Turkey began conducting a ground offensive and bombing campaign against the PKK in the region in May.

The conflict has claimed more than 40,000 lives since the PKK took up arms in 1984.Anadolu Agency, citing the Turkish Defense Ministry, said Sunday that another seven soldiers were wounded and hospitalised.

Turkey launched the “Claw” operation in May into mountainous northern Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

The offensive entered its third phase on Friday, in which troops aim to destroy PKK caves and shelters in the Sinat-Haftanin region.

The PKK began an insurgency against Turkey in the country’s mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984, and the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people. Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the group, based in the Qandil mountains of northern Iraq, a terror organisation.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2019