![Turkish soldiers fire a cannon at a military base during winter near Turkey-Iraq border in Daglica village of Yuksekova district of Hakkari, Turkey on January 20, 2019 [Özkan Bilgin / Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/20190124_2_34574570_41031371.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Two Turkish soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded on Saturday in a clash during operations into northern Iraq, Turkey’s defence ministry said.
Six militants, including a woman, were “neutralised” during the operations, the ministry said in a statement, with a further 12 militants “neutralised” in further airstrikes on Saturday night. The Turkish army uses the term neutralise when it has killed, captured or wounded combatants.
Turkey regularly carries out air strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq, as President Tayyip Erdogan pursues his aim of ending the militant group’s presence near Turkey’s borders.
The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast that has killed about 40,000 people.