ISTANBUL: Turkish soldiers conducting an operation against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq have found the bodies of 13 kidnapped Turks executed in a cave, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.
Forty eight PKK militants were killed in the operation, while three Turkish soldiers were killed and three wounded, Akar said in a statement released on Sunday. Twelve of the kidnapped Turks had been shot in the head and one in the shoulder.
Turkey launched a military operation against the PKK in northern Iraq’s Gara region on Feb. 10 to secure its border and find citizens who had been kidnapped previously, he said. The identity of those found dead in the cave was unclear.
“According to initial information given by two terrorists captured alive, our citizens were martyred at the start of the operation by the terrorist responsible for the cave,” Akar said at the operation’s control center near the Iraq border.
A statement on a PKK website said some prisoners it was holding, including Turkish intelligence, police and military personnel, had died during clashes in the area. The group denied it had ever hurt prisoners.
Turkey says it finds bodies of 13 killed by militants in Iraq
Turkey says it finds bodies of 13 killed by militants in Iraq
- Forty eight PKK militants were killed in the operation, while three Turkish soldiers were killed and three wounded
Sudan paramilitary forces say regret deadly Chad border clash
- The RSF said it respected Chad’s sovereignty and internationally recognized borders and was committed to “continuing ongoing investigations” and “taking the necessary measures” to hold those responsible accountable
PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces expressed regret on Monday over what they described as “unintentional” clashes with Chadian troops along the border, after Chad said seven of its soldiers were killed in the incident.
In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the RSF said the clashes “resulted from an unintentional mistake during field operations” targeting forces from the Sudanese army who had entered from Chadian territory “to stir discord and then fled back” into Chad.
Sudan has been gripped by conflict since April 2023. Fighting between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 11 million.
Around one million Sudanese refugees have fled to Chad, according to the United Nations.
The RSF said it respected Chad’s sovereignty and internationally recognized borders and was committed to “continuing ongoing investigations” and “taking the necessary measures” to hold those responsible accountable.
Chad’s government had earlier blamed the RSF for the violence.
Government spokesman Gassim Cherif told a news conference that armed fighters from Sudan had crossed into Chad on Thursday, prompting a clash when Chadian troops ordered them to leave.
A government official later told AFP that the Sudanese fighters were “RSF elements.”
Sudan’s army has repeatedly accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying weapons to the RSF and hiring mercenaries routed through Chad, Libya, Kenya or Somalia — claims denied by Abu Dhabi.
Border tensions have risen since October, when the RSF seized El-Fasher, the army’s last stronghold in Darfur, prompting international condemnation over reports of mass killings, summary executions and systematic rape.
