The Turkish Defence Ministry announced that a Turkish major was killed during operations in northern Iraq on Monday.
Turkish army Major Mehmet Duman, who was assigned to 10th Commando brigade of Turkish army, was killed by an improvised explosive device, the ministry said in a statement.
Duman is so far the highest ranking soldier killed in Turkey’s ‘Operation Claw-Lock’.
Turkey’s military operations into north Iraq, dubbed as the ‘Claw series’, started back in 2019. The operations target bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s mainly-Kurdish southeast since 1984, and Ankara has conducted numerous cross-border aerial and ground operations against the PKK over the years.