Three Turkish soldiers killed in Iraq

Three Turkish soldiers were killed Tuesday while serving in northern Iraq as part of operations against Kurdish militants, according to the defense ministry.

Another four soldiers were injured during the fighting, according to the ministry statement, which did not specify where the clash occurred.

According to Anadolu, Turkey’s official news agency, Turkish soldiers clashed with fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara and its Western allies consider a terrorist organization.

The PKK has training camps and bases in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan and has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, a conflict that has killed 40,000 people, many of them civilians.

Ankara has launched a series of operations against PKK fighters in Iraq and Syria, the latest one in northern Iraq beginning in April.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey would soon launch a new military operation into northern Syria which he said was designed to create a 30-kilometer (19-mile) “security zone” along their border.

Turkey has also launched three offensives into northern Syria against the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian-Kurdish group that Turkey considers to be affiliated with the PKK.

Turkey intends to use these security zones to keep Kurdish militants at bay, as well as to house some of the 3.7 million Syrian refugees who are currently sheltering within its borders.