At least 6 Turkish soldiers killed in attacks by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, Ankara says

By ROBERT BADENDIECK
Associated Press

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s defense ministry says a spate of attacks by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq killed at least six Turkish soldiers. The attacks prompted retaliatory Turkish airstrikes on Thursday that left four members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, dead. The violence is the latest in a monthslong escalation between Turkey and Turkish-backed groups on one side, and Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria on the other. Ankara considers the PKK — which has waged a decadeslong insurgency within Turkey — and allied Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq as terrorist organizations. There was no immediate comment from Iraq’s central government in Baghdad.