ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Four Turkish soldiers and 20 armed assailants were killed on Friday in clashes between the military and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) near the border with Iraq, Turkey’s defense ministry and military said.

A military base was attacked overnight in the mountainous Cukurca district of Turkey’s southeastern province of Hakkari, prompting the military to respond with an air operation, news agencies and the ministry said on Saturday.

The Turkish military said “at least 20 terrorists were neutralized” as a result, and it held a ceremony for the dead soldiers on Saturday, according to state-run Anadolu news agency. Hulusi Akar, the defense minister, was to attend.

The ministry said six other soldiers were wounded in the clashes. “Terrorists are under intense fire with the air operation and fire support vehicles in the region,” it said.

The PKK, which has waged an insurgency for autonomy in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast since 1984, is deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

“Turkey is determined to continue its fight against terrorists and their supporters by making no compromises,” Mustafa Sentop, the speaker of Turkey’s parliament, was quoted as saying by Anadolu.</s>Three Turkish soldiers killed in Kurd mortar attack from Iraq

ISTANBUL: Three Turkish soldiers died Saturday in a mortar attack by Kurdish rebels launched from Iraqi territory, the Turkish defence ministry said.

“Three of our brothers in arms died as martyrs after mortar fire from northern Iraq by terrorists,” the ministry said, in reference to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) group. A fourth soldier was wounded, it said in a statement. The attack targeted a military base in the border province of Hakkari, the ministry said, adding that the Turkish army had responded with aerial bombardments and artillery fire.

The PKK, branded a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

The PKK’s deployment in northern Iraq has been a constant source of tension between Baghdad and Ankara, with Turkey pressing Iraq to play a bigger role in fighting the group.

The defence ministry also said that another Turkish soldier had been killed Saturday in northern Syria by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia closely allied with the PKK. Unlike the PKK, however, the YPG has the backing of Western powers in its fight against the Islamic State group.</s>Twenty-three terrorists responsible for martyring three Turkish soldiers were neutralized on Saturday, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Saturday.

"The 23 YPG/PKK terrorists who carried out the attack were neutralized as a result of our response in the region and our operations both in Turkey and abroad continue with great determination," Akar said in a statement.

"A total of 28 YPG/PKK terrorists were neutralized during the ongoing operations in [Turkey's southeastern] Hakkari and [Syria's] Tel Rifaat provinces."

Earlier Saturday, three Turkish soldiers were martyred and one was injured in a PKK terrorist attack in Turkey southeastern Hakkari province.

Akar also said the commanders of the Turkish Armed Forces manage operations initiated against YPG/PKK terrorist organization at the Command Center.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including many women and children. The YPG/PKK is its Syrian branch.</s>has killed 28 Kurdish militants in retaliation to an attack which left three Turkish soldiers dead, the said in a statement.

On Saturday, three Turkish soldiers were killed and one was injured in a mortar attack by (PKK) in southeastern province, reported.

The attack targeted a military base in the border province of Hakkari, according to the Ministry.

Meanwhile, one Turkish soldier was killed and another was wounded after an attack by the in the mainly Kurdish-controlled northern Syrian region of Tel Rifaat.

had responded with aerial bombardments and artillery fire both in Turkey's and Syria's Tel Rifaat, the Ministry said.

The PKK, regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.</s>ANKARA (Reuters) - Four Turkish soldiers were killed and two others wounded in two separate attacks by Kurdish militants on Saturday, the Turkish defense ministry said, adding that the army had retaliated in both cases.

One Turkish soldier was killed and another was wounded in an attack by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the mainly Kurdish-controlled northern Syrian region of Tel Rifaat, the defense ministry said in a statement.

The attack took place in a region where Turkey carried out a cross-border operation dubbed Euphrates Shield in 2016, aimed at driving Islamic State militants and the YPG from its border with Syria, the ministry said.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar was later quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency as saying the military had killed 23 militants in retaliation for the attacks from Syria.

A Turkish security official told Reuters that the army was carrying out small operations to eliminate threats from the Tel Rifaat region, but that it could launch “a bigger operation” if necessary.

Separately, three Turkish soldiers were killed and another wounded in the southeastern Turkish province of Hakkari, which borders northern Iraq, after Kurdish militants shelled the region, the defense ministry said in a separate statement.

It said the military had returned fire and launched a cross-border operation in the region backed by fighter jets to destroy militant targets.

Akar said the military had killed five other militants in the cross-border operation into northern Iraq, and a total of 28 militants in response to the two attacks.

“We neutralized the 28 terrorists who carried out the attacks. Our operations both inside and outside our country continue with great determination,” Akar said, according to Anadolu.

Turkey’s military has regularly carried out air strikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. It also shelled YPG positions in the Tel Rifaat region earlier this year, saying this was in response to YPG fire.

Tel Rifaat is controlled by Kurdish-led forces and is located some 20 km east of Afrin, which has been under the control of Turkey and its Free Syrian Army (FSA) allies since an operation last year to drive out the YPG.

Turkey, which has long been one of the main backers of rebel groups fighting against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, has conducted patrols with Russia, one of Assad’s main allies, in northern areas under agreements reached last year.

In March, the defense ministry said Turkish and Russian forces had carried out the first “independent and coordinated” patrols in Tel Rifaat.</s>At least eight people were killed, and six were wounded in recent violence:

Three Turkish soldiers were killed and another was wounded in a cross border attack. Kurdistan Workers’ Party (P.K.K.) guerrillas launched a mortar attack from inside Iraqi territory that killed the soldiers who were nearby in Turkey’a Hakkari province.

Militants killed the son of the village mukhtar in Latifiya.

In Jabal al-Shoor, security personnel killed an ISIS official.
• ISIS Executes Kurdish Intelligence Agent; Three Killed in Iraq – May 2nd, 2019
• In Iraq, 245 Killed or Found Dead During April – April 30th, 2019</s>Turkey will continue ops along borders until threats eliminated, VP says

PKK terrorists detonated a bomb as a minibus with civilians passed on a road in southeastern Turkey's Şırnak province, killing two people.

The passengers were reportedly on their way to the Silopi town, returning from a picnic on the slopes of Mount Cudi in the Uyanık village, when their minibus was hit by the explosion.

The driver, 28-year-old Servet Bilen, and his 13-year-old brother, Diyar Bilen, were killed.

Also on Sunday in Şırnak, two Turkish soldiers were killed during a clash with PKK terrorists, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The attacks come after three soldiers were killed Saturday in the neighboring province of Hakkari by PKK shelling from northern Iraq, and a fourth was killed in clashes with the PKK's Syrian affiliate People's Protection Units (YPG) in Tel Rifaat in northern Syria, the Defense Ministry said.

The Turkish military launched a wide-scale air-supported counter-terrorism operation against the terrorists in response to the soldiers' deaths, neutralizing 28 PKK/YPG terrorists, according to the Defense Ministry.

Separately, security sources said Sunday that Turkish airstrikes had neutralized five PKK terrorists in northern Iraq as part of an operation launched to retaliate against the cross-border attacks a day earlier.

The airstrikes targeted the area across the border from the southeastern province of Hakkari, the sources said, adding that the army's operation in the region continued.

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU. In its decadeslong terror campaign against Turkey, the group has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women and children.</s>ANKARA (Reuters) - Four Turkish soldiers were killed and two others wounded in two separate cross-border attacks by Kurdish militants on Saturday, the defense ministry said, adding that the army had retaliated in both cases.

One Turkish soldier was killed and another was lightly wounded after an attack by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the mainly Kurdish-controlled northern Syrian region of Tel Rifaat, the defense ministry said in a statement.

The attack took place in a region where Turkey carried out a cross-border operation dubbed Euphrates Shield in 2016, aimed at driving Islamic State militants and the YPG from its border with Syria, the ministry said.

It said the army had retaliated with artillery fire but gave no further details on the whereabouts of the attack.

Three other Turkish soldiers were killed and another wounded in the southeastern province of Hakkari, which borders northern Iraq, after Kurdish militants shelled the region, the defense ministry said in a separate statement.

It said the military had returned fire and launched a cross-border operation in the region backed by fighter jets to destroy the militant targets.

Turkey’s military has regularly carried out air strikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. It also shelled YPG positions in the Tel Rifaat region earlier this year, saying this was in response to YPG fire.

Tel Rifaat is controlled by Kurdish-led forces and is located some 20 km east of Afrin, which has been under the control of Turkey and its Free Syrian Army (FSA) allies since an operation last year to drive out the YPG.

Turkey, which has long been one of the main backers of rebel groups fighting against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, has conducted patrols with Russia, one of Assad’s main allies, in northern areas under agreements reached last year.

In March, the defense ministry said Turkish and Russian forces had carried out the first “independent and coordinated” patrols in Tel Rifaat.</s>(Bloomberg) -- A Turkish lieutenant was killed in clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish militant group YPG in the north of neighboring Syria, state media reported Saturday, citing a statement from the defense ministry.

Another officer was wounded when they came under fire from forces in the town of Tal Rifaat, after which Turkish howitzers hit the area, Anadolu news agency said.

The troops were on a mission in an area where the Turkish military -- NATO’S second largest after the U.S. -- previously conducted an operation called Olive Branch to root out members of Kurdish militia PYD and YPG. Ankara sees both groups as an extension of the Kurdish separatists group PKK, which is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union.

Turkey has called on all allies to stop backing the Kurdish groups but the U.S. has said its collaboration with the militants against members of the Islamic State in Syria is temporary and tactical.

To contact the reporter on this story: Onur Ant in Istanbul at oant@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Stephen Kirkland, Abigail Moses</s>Turkey-backed Syrian rebels launched an offensive into territory held by the Kurdish YPG militia north of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday, seizing some territory before heavy shelling forced them to retreat.

The operation marked an escalation on one of the most complicated theaters of the multi-sided Syrian war. Though the rebels are targeting the YPG, Syrian government forces are also deployed nearby as are their Russian and Iran-backed allies.

The Turkey-backed Syrian National Army took three villages before withdrawing "because of heavy shelling and the lack of an ability to sweep the area completely in the light of the targeting of our forces", said Yousef Hammoud, its spokesman.

He said pro-Damascus forces had shelled the advancing National Army fighters.

The YPG, which has fought alongside U.S. forces against Islamic State in eastern and northeastern Syria, has lost ground in the northwest since early 2018, when Turkish forces and their Syrian allies drove it from the Afrin region.

A military source in the Afrin Liberation Forces, which is close to the YPG, told Reuters the Turkey-backed rebels had advanced into an area where the Kurdish forces had no presence before being forced out.

"Now, after strikes from our forces, the opposition forces were forced to withdraw from those positions," the source said.

The National Army was formed with Turkish backing from a number of rebel Free Syrian Army groups. Its main foothold is a chunk of territory northeast of Aleppo known as Euphrates Shield that is secured with help from Turkish forces on the ground.

The FSA groups have long vowed to take the YPG-held territory north of Aleppo including the town of Tel Rifaat, taken by the Kurdish militia since 2016.

The Turkish defense ministry said one Turkish soldier was killed and another was wounded in a YPG attack in Tel Rifaat on Saturday.

Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency on Turkish soil for autonomy in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast since 1984. The PKK is deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The YPG is the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces(SDF), the main Syrian partner of the U.S.-backed coalition against Islamic State. The SDF controls northeastern and eastern Syria, approximately one quarter of the country.
Four Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack on their base in Iraq by Kurdish forces. Twenty PKK members were also killed in the attack.